by Calculated Risk on 7/13/2012 01:05:00 PM

From HotelNewsNow.com: STR: US hotel results for week ending 7 July

In year-over-year comparisons for the week, occupancy ended the week with a 3.7-percent decrease to 61.4 percent, average daily rate increased 3.0 percent to US$101.67 and revenue per available room ended the week virtually flat with a 0.8-percent decrease to US$62.37.

The decline in occupancy last week was due to the timing of July 4th (and probably impacted by the mid-week holiday). The 4-week average is still above last year, and is close to the pre-recession levels.

Note: ADR: Average Daily Rate, RevPAR: Revenue per Available Room.

The following graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using a four week average.

Click on graph for larger image.

The red line is for 2012, yellow is for 2011, blue is "normal" and black is for 2009 - the worst year since the Great Depression for hotels.

Looking forward, leisure travel usually increases over the summer months, and occupancy rates will probably average 70% for the next couple of months. It looks like 2012 will have higher occupancy than 2011, and be close to the pre-recession median. But it will be sometime before investment increases again.

Data Source: Smith Travel Research, Courtesy of HotelNewsNow.com