Excerpt from STR

January 2022 Top-Line Metrics (percentage change from January 2019):

  • Occupancy: 47.8% (-12.6%)
  • Average daily rate (ADR): US$123.51 (-0.3%)
  • Revenue per available room (RevPAR): US$58.98 (-12.8%)

Key Points from the Month

  • The weekday occupancy index (to 2019) softened significantly more than weekends.
  • Group demand remained flat month over month, however, the group demand index fell significantly.  
  • While demand (and occupancy) softened moderately across virtually every segment of the industry, ADR indexes fell only modestly month over month even in the Top 25 Markets, as higher-than-anticipated January inflation drove hoteliers’ costs even higher.
  • The number of rooms in construction continued to decrease year over year, although the rate of decline slowed as the industry entered a second year of construction constraints.
  • The dip seen in January will be short-lived, which is already supported in the first few weeks of data from February. Softer winter performance without any new variants or COVID surges was expected—a reversion to historical winter, shoulder-season normalcy.

Top 25 Markets

Among the Top 25 Markets, Miami experienced the highest occupancy level (68.2%), which was still down 12.9% from the market’s 2019 benchmark.

Markets with the lowest occupancy for the month included Chicago (35.4%) and Minneapolis (36.1%).

San Francisco/San Mateo reported the steepest decline in occupancy when compared with 2019 (-46.3%).

Overall, the Top 25 Markets showed higher occupancy and ADR than all other markets.

Beach markets and warmer southern markets led absolute occupancy in the Top 25. Business-reliant markets (DC, Minneapolis), cold markets (Chicago, Boston), and COVID-restricted markets (NYC, San Francisco) reported lower occupancy. A lack of inbound international travelers into key cities continues to be a headwind.

However, even the lure of (temporarily) escaping the cold wasn’t enough to offset all-important business travel, and Top 25 Market indexes took a significant dip in January.

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