hospitalitystyle.com

(January 2010) posted on Tue Jan 26, 2010 EST

U.S. RevPAR, occupancy and average daily rate all fell

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Just how bad was 2009 for the U.S. hotel industry? Research firm STR has compiled the gory details: revenue per available room (RevPAR) fell 16.7 percent, to $53.71, for the year; occupancy fell 8.7 percent, to 55.1 percent; and the average daily rate (ADR) dropped 8.8 percent, to $97.51.

“Good riddance to 2009, a year which we believe will go down as the worst in the modern hotel industry,” said STR president Mark Lomanno. “The combination of a distressed economy in conjunction with panic pricing drove RevPARs down to levels that were virtually incomprehensible just a year and a half ago. I look for a significant improvement in the key hotel performance indicators in 2010.”

None of the 25 largest markets reported increases in any of the three key metrics in 2009. Just three markets posted occupancy decreases of less than 5 percent: Norfolk-Virginia Beach, Virginia (-3.3 percent to 53.2 percent); Washington, D.C. (-3.2 percent to 64.9 percent); and Oahu Island, Hawaii (-2.3 percent to 73.3 percent). Houston ended the year with the largest occupancy decrease, falling 17 percent to 55.8 percent because of the lingering effects of Hurricane Ike.

New Orleans was the only market to post a year-end ADR decrease of less than 5 percent, falling 4 percent to $113.52. New York City reported the largest ADR decrease, falling 21.8 percent to $215.14, followed by Phoenix, which experienced a drop of 15.4 percent to $105.72.

Two markets posted single-digit RevPAR decreases: Norfolk-Virginia Beach (-8.5 percent to $44.47) and Washington, D.C. (-8.5 percent to $94.04). New York ended the year with the largest RevPAR decrease, down 26.3 percent to $166.11, followed by Phoenix with a 25.3-percent decrease to US$55.36.