Hotel Industry: 10/18-10/24
Hotel Weekly Review
Nationally, hotel occupancy was down 31.7% compared to 2019 this week. Atlanta was 4th out of the 25 biggest lodging markets in the US for the least occupancy rate declines (-29.4%), down from last week’s ranking of 3rd out of 25.
The largest occupancy declines were urban (-53% YoY occupancy decline), airport (-42.5% YoY decline), and resort (-40.5% YoY occupancy decline) hotels. Urban and resort hotels recovered by 3.7% and 1.8% compared to last week while airport hotel occupancy declined by -0.8% week over week. Suburban hotels (-29.1% occupancy decline) declined marginally by -0.3% week over week. The best performing hotels in terms of occupancy declines, small metro/towns (-13.4% YoY occupancy decline) and interstate (-13.9% YoY occupancy decline) hotels, recovered by 1% and 1.5% respectively compared to last week.
Source: STR
Week of October 18th Winners & Losers
For chain scale segments, economy and midscale hotels continue to have the fastest recovery, having occupancy declines of -12% and -19.1% respectively. Compared to last week, economy hotels recovered 2.1% and midscale hotels recovered 0.5%. Upper-upscale (-60.9% occupancy), and luxury (-66.7% occupancy) hotels had the highest occupancy recovery week over week (3% and 2.5% respectively).
The worst-performing hotel locations in terms of overall occupancy compared to last year are urban (38% occupancy), resort (42.1% occupancy), and airport (45.6% occupancy) hotels had occupancy declines of -53%, -40.5%, and -42.3% respectively compared to the same week last year.
The top-performing hotel market based on occupancy recovery, Norfolk/Virginia Beach (-19.2% occupancy decline this week compared to 2019), saw its fifth consecutive week of occupancy declines (-0.1%) compared to last week. The worst performing hotel markets, the northeastern city hotel market (New York City, Boston, Chicago), saw occupancy recover over 15% week over week. The worst performing market throughout COVID-19, Oahu Island, had an occupancy recovery of 14.2% week over week.
Top 6 Performing Cities by change in occupancy
| City | 2020 Occ | 2019 Occ | % Change |
| Norfolk/Virginia Beach, VA | 54.1% | 66.9% | -19.2% |
| Tampa/St Petersburg, FL | 53.8% | 70.4% | -23.6% |
| Phoenix, AZ | 53.6% | 75.2% | -28.7% |
| Atlanta, GA | 50.2% | 71.1% | -29.4% |
| Philadelphia, PA-NJ | 49.8% | 77.5% | -35.7% |
| Detroit, MI | 47.4% | 74.4% | -36.4% |
Worst 6 Performing Cities by change in occupancy
| City | 2020 Occ | 2019 Occ | % Change |
| Oahu Island, HI | 23.4% | 82.3% | -71.6% |
| Chicago, IL | 34.3% | 80.3% | -57.4% |
| New York, NY | 39.4% | 92.1% | -57.2% |
| Boston, MA | 37.8% | 87.9% | -57.0% |
| San Francisco/San Mateo, CA | 39.3% | 88.1% | -55.4% |
| Washington, DC-MD-VA | 37.3% | 82.5% | -54.7% |
Source: STR
Atlanta Hotel Updates
This week two Atlanta hotels announced they will lay off more than 100 employees after citing management changes. The Crowne Plaza Atlanta Airport is expected to lay off around 56 employees, and Dunwoody’s Crowne Plaza Atlanta Perimeter at Ravinia plans to layoff approximately 70 employees. Both these hotels intend for the layoffs to be permanent. As airport hotels and suburban hotels continue to burn cash with record low occupancy levels still pursuing due to COVID-19, hotels need to continue to find new revenue streams in order to maintain business operations. Additionally, revenue from sporting events may continue to be further delayed as constraints on stadium attendance and recent news of the Atlanta Falcons practice facility closing due COVID-19 will squeeze urban hotel occupancy levels.
Long-term future outlook past the pandemic look bright for Atlanta hotels however. Atlanta won the bid to host the NCAA’s mens basketball tournament in 2025, is hosting the MLB All Star Game in 2021, and the City Atlanta Winery has reopened its doors to host live concerts/events. The NCAA basketball tournament in previous years has brought in upwards of $25 million in economic impact to the cities its hosted in.
Atlanta events still active:
- Atlanta Celebrates Photography, October 1-31 2020
- Roswell Music’Fest, October 16-18 2020
- Brookhaven Arts Festival, October 16-18 2021
Week Of October 18th Hotel Report: Good And Bad News
Good News
Atlanta wins bid to host NCAA men’s basketball regional in 2025
City Winery Atlanta to resume live concerts in October
Bad News
Atlanta Falcons close facility amid positive case of Covid-19
Management change cited for 100-plus layoffs at two Crowne Plaza hotels
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