The U.S. hotel industry reported record lows in occupancy and revenue per available room for the full year 2020, according to STR. Average daily rate was the lowest since 2011. The year-over-year declines also were the worst on record for all three key performance metrics.
Occupancy in 2020 fell 33.3 percent year over year to 44 percent. ADR dropped 21.3 percent to $103.25. RevPAR declined 47.5 percent to $45.48.
As for 2020 group metrics, year-over-year occupancy was down 66.9 percent to 7.4 percent, ADR dipped 7.4 percent to $189.32, and RevPAR declined 69.3 percent to $14, according to an STR spokesperson.
In addition, the U.S. hotel industry surpassed 1 billion unsold room nights, the first time that has happened, and which eclipsed the 786 million unsold room nights during the Great Recession of 2009, according to STR.
Among the top 25 markets, Tampa/St. Petersburg was the only one to reach 50 percent occupancy for 2020 at 50.8 percent, though that still was far below its 2019 level of 72.1 percent. Minneapolis/St. Paul reported the lowest occupancy level at 33.3 percent. Despite recording the steepest decline in year-over-year occupancy of 53.7 percent to 39 percent, Oahu was the only market to post ADR above $200, at $215.57. Norfolk/Virginia Beach saw the lowest year-over-year declines in occupancy and RevPAR, of 22.7 percent and 34.7 percent, respectively.
December 2020 Metrics
For December, U.S. hotel occupancy was down 32.3 percent year over year to 36.7 percent. ADR fell 27.6 percent from December 2019 to $91.96. RevPAR declined 51 percent to $33.76. The month's occupancy and RevPAR were the lowest since May, while ADR was up slightly from November.
As for the full year, Norfolk/Virginia Beach reported the lowest decline in occupancy levels and RevPAR from the December prior, at 11.9 percent and 22.9 percent, respectively. Miami reported the highest occupancy level for the month at 48.8 percent, followed by Tampa/St. Petersburg at 48.4 percent and Atlanta at 45.3 percent.
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