STR: August U.S. Hotel Occupancy, Daily Rate Down 10 Percent

The U.S. lodging industry in August continued to see significantly lower year-over-year occupancy, revenue per available room and rates, with Denver, New York, San Francisco and Chicago seeing particularly large drops, according to data released today by Smith Travel Research.

The firm reported that occupancy for the month was 60.7 percent, down 9.9 percent compared with August 2008. The average daily rate was down 10.1 percent, and RevPAR was down 19 percent.

"Demand, while showing signs of stabilization, is still well below year earlier numbers," Smith Travel Research president Mark Lomanno said in a statement. "We are not likely to see improvement in this key indicator for another month or two, where favorable comparisons to last year will begin to be realized. In addition, the continued erosion in room rates will increasingly put a strain on profitability."

Denver, which hosted the Democratic National Convention last year, not surprisingly saw the biggest drops in RevPAR and rate, which were down 38.3 percent and 30.2 percent, respectively. New York also saw large drops in both metrics: Rates were down 27.1 percent, and RevPAR was down 31.8 percent. San Francisco, despite largely maintaining occupancy levels, saw rates drop by 17.4 percent, and Chicago RevPAR was down by 26.1 percent.

The Washington, D.C., market performed the strongest in the nation. The district's occupancy was down by only 0.6 percent, and rates and RevPAR were down 4.7 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively.