Hotel chain Extended Stay America has managed to outperform other lodging companies in what’s been an awful year for the industry.
While lodging companies including Extended Stay have generally underperformed the broader market, the firm has managed to stay profitable this year, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Extended Stay’s revenue over the last nine months is down 16 percent from the same period last year. Marriott International reported a 46 percent decline in revenue between those periods. Choice Hotels International and Wyndham Hotels And Resorts have also seen larger declines than Extended Stay.
Revenue per available room, a key metric for lodging companies, was up in all three months of the third quarter at Extended Stay properties.
Extended Stay is the only chain that focuses entirely on long-term stays. Part of its relative stability could be attributed to shifting demand for longer stays at hotels.
The company has also seen continued demand for business travel. Typical sources of such business — such as government and retail workers — are down, but the company has seen a boost in demand from the warehousing, logistics, construction and temporary medicine sectors.
The industry’s average occupancy nationwide is under 50 percent and the situation has become dire enough at some companies that lenders are selling their mortgages — or trying to, at least.
Hotels across the country have laid off workers and cut costs in other ways. Extended Stay, though, has not done any layoffs related to the pandemic.
[WSJ] — Dennis Lynch