Va. hotel revenues slowly improving

All Va. markets reported revenue declines and fewer rooms sold, however

Published August 5, 2020 by Sydney Lake

Hotel revenues in Virginia slightly improved last week, but still remain at a 46% decrease compared to the same week last year, according to new data from STR Inc., a division of CoStar Group providing market data on the U.S. hospitality industry. The week before last, STR had reported a 50% decrease in hotel revenues when compared to the same week last year. 

During the week of July 26 through Aug. 1, hotel revenues in Virginia decreased by 46% and rooms sold declined by 35% when compared to the same week last year. The average daily rate (ADR) paid for hotel rooms dropped 18% to $95.33, and RevPAR (a key lodging industry metric) fell to $47.69, a 45% decline.

Hotel revenues and rooms sold declined in every major market in Virginia, compared with the same time frame last year. Compared to the same week in 2019, revenues fell 65% in Northern Virginia, 46% in Charlottesville and 32% in Hampton Roads. During the week of July 19 through July 25 revenues fell 71% in Northern Virginia, 61% in Charlottesville and 31% in Hampton Roads.

The number of rooms sold in Northern Virginia is down by more than 50%, while the Charlottesville market held on at 36% and the Chesapeake/Suffolk market declined by 21%.

The Hampton Roads region continues to fare well when compared nationally, however. It again held the highest occupancy rate and RevPAR among the top 25 markets in the U.S., which it has done for the past four weeks. The occupancy rate in Hampton Roads last week was 64.1% and RevPAR reached $74.37. Williamsburg (part of the Hampton Roads region) continues to perform poorly, however with hotel revenue dropping by 75%.

“We continue to see some improvement in room revenues as well as in rooms sold in Hampton Roads almost every week over the last several weeks,” Professor Vinod Agarwal of Old Dominion University’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy said in a statement.. “However, given that we have more restrictions in Hampton Roads due to rising infection cases, effective July 31, and that travelers from Virginia arriving in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut must self-quarantine for 14 days, effective July 22, we are more likely to see deterioration in the performance of hotels in coming weeks.”

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