Hotels nationwide saw an uptick in revenue per available room over the last week.
While the industry is still reeling from the effects of the coronavirus, numbers have picked up as states begin opening up for business, while still using hotels for healthcare workers, Covid-19 patients and the homeless.
The latest numbers from hospitality research firm STR showed revenue per available room came in at $19.13 across the country for the week ending April 25. That’s up about 10 percent from $17.43 the week before.
While RevPAR is slowly improving, the industry is still far from where it was a year ago. Compared to the same time last year, U.S. RevPAR is down about 78 percent.
STR does not count shuttered rooms — a figure that changes week to week — in its analysis. It also noted that about 15 percent of U.S. rooms in STR’s database were offline as of April 29.
Across New York City, Miami/Hialeah, Los Angeles/Long Beach and Chicago markets, RevPar also appears to be slowly improving after hitting a low weeks ago.
The recent jump was greatest in the Miami/Hialeah market, where RevPar grew nearly 39 percent from the week before to $21.65, according to a TRD analysis of STR’s data. However, that is still a stark drop from the pre-pandemic figure of $134.85.
Out of those markets, RevPar last week was highest in New York City, at $50.57, a growth of about 24 percent from the week before. In the first week of March, however, RevPar in the city was $136.05, the highest among those cities.
The occupancy rate for hotels — a measure of how many rooms are booked — also is creeping up as essential workers and others impacted by Covid-19 fill rooms. The national occupancy rate for hotels was 26 percent, rising from about 23 percent the week before, according to STR.