by Calculated Risk on 12/24/2008 02:13:00 AM

From the Chicago Tribune: Chicago hotel occupancy falls 13% in November

Downtown Chicago hotels saw a 13.1 percent dive in the average occupancy rate, to 69 percent last month from a year earlier, according to Smith Travel Research. Nationwide, occupancy dropped 10.6 percent, to a 51.9 percent rate.

Pricing dropped as well, leading to double-digit declines in revenue per available room, a key measure of profitability. In downtown Chicago, the decline was 20.6 percent; nationally, it was 12.9 percent.

A double digit RevPAR decline (revenue per available room) is stunning.

Also, Deutsche Bank reported in their Commercial Real Estate Outlook: Q4 2008 (no link), that "hotel loan deterioration now beginning to take-off" and that the 30-day delinquency rate has risen from 6bp to 55bp in just the last three months.

Falling hotel occupancy rates - leading to lower revenues and higher delinquency rates ... what a surprise!