Hotels around the country are very much feeling the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic — about 80% of rooms in the U.S. are empty.
Hotel occupancy, average daily rate and revenue per available room were down significantly year-over-year the week of March 29 through April 4, per new STR data.
Compared to the week of March 31 to April 6 last year, hotel occupancy was down nearly 70%, with only 21.6% rooms filled.
“Data worsened a bit from last week, and certain patterns were extended around occupancy,” Jan Freitag, STR’s senior VP of lodging insights, said in a statement.
That’s not to say it wasn’t all gloom and doom: Guests are still showing interest in budget hotels.
“Economy hotels continued to run the highest occupancy, while interstate and suburban properties once again posted the top occupancy rates among location types,” Freitag added. “This shows there are still pockets of demand.”
In the top 25 markets in the U.S., Oahu, Island, Hawaii saw the biggest occupancy decrease, down nearly 91% with an occupancy level of 7%. New York City occupancy fell more than 79% to about 18%, while Seattle dipped about 73% to 19.5%.
Half of the hotels in the U.S. could shutter amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Chip Rogers, president and CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association told USA TODAY last month.
“If something doesn’t happen quickly, since occupancy is trending toward zero, you’re going to see thousands of hotels go out of business,” Rogers said. While many will close and reopen at some point in the future, others won’t.
If occupancy dips below 25% to 30%, instead of trying to hold on to a skeleton staff, hotels would save money by closing their doors.
The $2.2 trillion stimulus package signed into law last month by President Donald Trump is aimed at getting the economy back on its feet as it deals with the coronavirus shutdowns. Per the package, hotels and other travel providers will have to compete from loans from a $500 billion fund.
While the American Hotel & Lodging Association supported the bill, it warned that it had a provision that limits a Small Business Administration loan to 250% of a hotel’s average monthly payroll. “This limit will not allow a business owner to meet both payroll and debt service obligations beyond an estimated 4 to 8 weeks,” the association said in a statement.
It’s yet to be seen whether the stimulus is enough to get travel businesses back to any semblance of where it stood before the crisis. The stimulus has a lot of money to lend – but if travelers are hesitant to hit the road again when the crisis ends, we’ll have to see if it was enough.
Contributing: Chris Woodyard
Good to know:Coronavirus: How hotel chains like Marriott and Hilton are adjusting cancellation policies
For more on that stimulus package:President Trump signs the $2 trillion stimulus package. What does it mean for travelers?
Source : USAToday
