The picture for the country’s hotels continued to grow ever worse last week, as more than three quarters of the nation’s hotel rooms sat vacant.
Nationwide, occupancy fell almost 68 percent to an occupancy rate of 22.6 percent during the week of March 22 to March 28, according to the hospitality data firm STR. The rate of decline accelerated from a drop in occupancy of roughly 56 percent the week before.
STR senior vice president Jan Freitag said that declines like these are the “new normal” until the number of new Covid-19 cases show a significant slowdown.
“2020 will be the worst year on record for occupancy,” he said, noting that more than 75 percent of rooms around the country sat empty last week. “We do, however, expect the industry to begin to recover once the economy reignites and travel resumes.”
Across the country, average daily room rates fell shy of 40 percent to about $80, and revenue per available room plunged 80 percent to just a few cents more than $18.
New York City saw occupancy nosedive more than 80 percent to just above 15 percent. Miami recorded the largest drop in daily room rates, tanking nearly 60 percent to short of $117. Occupancy at Miami hotels fell 77 percent, to 20 percent.
Chicago and Los Angeles both registered a drop in occupancy of nearly 75 percent to about 16 percent and 21 percent, respectively.
Hotels across the country — including marquee names like the Plaza and Four Seasons downtown — have shuttered and laid off and furloughed staffers.
Meanwhile, New York City is looking to rent hotel rooms that can be converted into hospital rooms for non-Covid 19 patients. The city is trying to free up room in medical facilities for those afflicted with coronavirus. Other hotels have been opening their doors to first responders in the city.
Contact Rich Bockmann at rb@therealdeal.com or 908-415-5229.