by Calculated Risk on 9/10/2010 03:08:00 PM

Hotel occupancy is one of several industry specific indicators I follow ...

From HotelNewsNow.com: STR: US hotel results week ending 4 Sept. 2010

In year-over-year comparisons, occupancy increased 7.5 percent to 57.4 percent, average daily rate was up 2.1 percent to US$94.37, and revenue per available room rose 9.7 percent to US$54.16.

This was the 13th consecutive week the U.S. reported overall ADR increases. Before this trend emerged, ADR in decreased 74 of the past 76 weeks.

The following graph shows the four week moving average for the occupancy rate by week for 2008, 2009 and 2010 (and a median for 2000 through 2007).

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

Notes: the scale doesn't start at zero to better show the change. The graph shows the 4-week average, not the weekly occupancy rate.

On a 4-week basis, occupancy is up 8.1% compared to last year (the worst year since the Great Depression) and 3.5% below the median for 2000 through 2007.

The occupancy rate is just above the levels of 2008 - but 2008 was a tough year for the hotel industry!

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