Hotel Industry: 6/28-7/04

Hotel Weekly Update

Nationally, hotel occupancy was down 30.2% compared to 2019 this week. Atlanta was 4th out of the 25 biggest lodging markets in the US for the least occupancy rate declines (-22.9%), up from last weeks rankings of 5th out of 25.

Instead of going to large cities, many tourists preferred the beach, lake, or mountain visits to spend their 4th of July visits. These new travel preferences led to high occupancy rates at resorts (61.5%) and small towns (61.1%) towards the end of the week. Urban and airport hotels continue to be hit the hardest with the lowest occupancy rates and the largest year over year occupancy declines in 2020 this week.

Source: STR

Week of June 28th Winners & Losers

Large 4th of July celebrations in cities were canceled across the United States. Lodging and travel preferences were geared to staying in hotels that had the chain segments of economy, independent, midscale, or upper-midscale that were located in or around interstates and small towns.

Top 6 Performing Cities by change in occupancy

City	2020 Occ	2019 Occ	% Change
Detroit, MI	52.8%	57.0%	-7.4%
Phoenix, AZ	44.1%	52.2%	-15.6%
Norfolk/Virginia Beach, VA	63.4%	75.8%	-16.4%
Atlanta, GA	49.5%	64.2%	-22.9%
Philadelphia, PA-NJ	44.1%	61.9%	-28.8%
Tampa/St Petersburg, FL	51.0%	72.5%	-29.7%

Worst 6 Performing Cities by change in occupancy

City	2020 Occ	2019 Occ	% Change
Oahu Island, HI	19.4%	87.3%	-77.8%
Orlando, FL	29.3%	75.4%	-61.1%
Boston, MA	28.7%	66.1%	-56.7%
Seattle, WA	32.5%	70.8%	-54.0%
Miami/Hialeah, FL	33.6%	72.8%	-53.9%
New York, NY	40.1%	83.6%	-52.0%

Source: STR

Atlanta Hotel Updates

In Atlanta, many 4th of July events got canceled as COVID-19 cases in Georgia peaked July 2nd. Despite negative consumer sentiment of travel into cities, the Atlanta hotel market outperformed the general United States market in all three hotel KPI’s: ADR, Occupancy Rate, and RevPar.

At popular destinations such as Savannah, visitors are coming back —although not yet in pre-pandemic numbers. Weekend stays at area hotels have pushed occupancy rates back into the 75% range, according to Joe Marinelli, president of Visit Savannah. On Georgia’s Golden Isles, hotels and restaurants are seeing a similar rebound. The coastal region that includes Sea, Jekyll, and St. Simons islands is attracting growing numbers of people coming to the beaches for a day or longer, according to Scott McQuade, president & CEO of the Golden Isles Convention & Visitors Bureau. Mountainous areas have remained open and attracted a large number of visitors too according to Kim Hatcher, public affairs coordinator of Georgia State Parks. The parks have been allowing visitors to utilize hiking trails, boat ramps, campgrounds, cabins, swimming beaches, golf courses, and most other facilities — with the exception of museums and playgrounds, which reopened in mid-June. Several parks have seen so many visitors they reached parking capacity on weekends, causing rangers to restrict park access for day-use visitors, Hatcher said.

Atlanta Hotel & Venue Reopening’s:

• Georgia Tech Hotel & Conference Center: Reopened July 2nd, 2020
• Ritz-Carlton Atlanta: Reopened July 1st, 2020
• Music Venue Eddie’s Attic: Reopened July 1st, 2020
• Cobb Galleria Center: Reopened July 13th, 2020

Major Recurring Events Cancelled/Postponed this week:

• AmericasMart: Rescheduled from July to August 13-18
• Fourth of July at Centennial Olympic Park: Cancelled (Originally June 30 – July 5 2020)
• Red, White & Brew: Cancelled (July 4 2020)
• AJC Peachtree Road Race: Rescheduled to November (Originally July 4 2020)

Week Of June 28th Hotel Report: Good And Bad News

Good News

Atlanta’s shelter in place polices have driven up demand for hotels near beaches and mountains 1-2 hours away from the city

Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau is launching a hotel package program with Expedia Group in July designed to inspire travelers with a “Welcome Back to Atlanta” message that focuses heavily on hotel stays, weekend getaways and Atlanta experiences

 Georgia General Assembly passed the Georgia COVID-19 Pandemic Business Safety Act (Senate Bill 359) to limit liability for COVID-19-related claims.

Bad News

Mayor rolls back Atlanta’s reopening plan from Phase 2 to Phase 1

Georgia had its most positive COVID-19 cases in one day on July 2nd at 3,472