US Hotels End May on a Modest Upturn
Slow but steady growth points to “demand ready to return” in the hospitality industry, analysts say
As the month of May drew to a close, US hotels posted small weekly rise in occupancy, along with other key metrics, according to hospitality data analysts at STR. The latest occupancy numbers stood at 36.6 percent during the week ending May30, a 43.2 percent decline over the same period last year.
Year over year declines are still significant but the trend lines appear to be improving. In previous weeks, STR had reported US weekly occupancy levels at 35.4 percent for the week of May 23, up from 32.4 percent the week before. That’s a notable improvement over the April numbers, when occupancy bottomed out at 22 percent the week ending April 11.
Six of the Top 25 Markets saw occupancy levels above 40 percent: New York City, Norfolk/Virginia Beach, VA, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Phoenix, Atlanta and Detroit.
Highlighting a seventh consecutive week of higher demand and occupancy, Jan Freitag, STR’s senior VP of lodging insights said the growth “further supports previous analysis that there is demand ready to return, but for now, it is more visible from leisure sources and in destinations that are set up well for drive-to business.”
