With the Labor Day holiday weekend approaching, new data from the MAPP report, powered by myDigitalOffice, shows some interesting patterns heading into the weekend. Hotel occupancy in the U.S. is nearly double the level of what we saw this time last year, despite recent surges in COVID-19 cases. It has been an uncertain summer for the hospitality industry as travelers are closely monitoring the changes in requirements for travel; for example, many popular U.S. travel destinations now require a 14-day quarantine upon arrival.
In the weeks leading up to Labor day in 2020, U.S. occupancy hovered around 10-15% in the last few weeks before peaking at around 30% at the one-week out mark. The weekend finished at slightly over 30% occupancy.
As summer comes to an end, it looks like U.S. travelers will be taking one last stab at vacation normalcy and hitting the road. As of Aug. 31, U.S. hotels were already over half booked, with occupancies slightly above 50%. These patterns heading into Labor Day weekend are very similar to what was seen earlier in the year for July 4th, despite there being more (and growing) COVID-19 cases today than we saw in July. The steady demand throughout the summer has resulted in ADR holding strong after last year’s continued drop in ADR each week.
Travel patterns have remained consistent from July 4th to today, illustrating a regained confidence in travel, sanitary precautions, etc. Although COVID-19 cases are showing increases across the country, in 2021, it is apparent travelers are feeling more confident in their decisions to continue traveling as safely as they can.
Over the last six weeks, there has been steady increases in occupancy, RevPAR and ADR across all asset classes. As of Aug. 31, upscale, midscale and luxury hotels were leading the pack, although upper-upscale, upper-midscale and economy are slightly below the leaders.
As summer 2021 comes to a close, these forward-looking hotel metrics suggest that leisure travel in the U.S. continues to hold firm, despite recent surges in COVID-19 and concerns over the delta variant. The company is optimistic with vaccines still on the rise and travelers feeling more confident; the industry will not fall back into 2020 patterns.