STR, the parent company of HotelNewsNow.com, released today new hotel performance data for the week of 26 June-2 July 2011 for the United States and Canada.
The U.S. hotel industry experienced increases in all three key performance metrics during the week. In year-over-year comparisons, occupancy rose 5.8% to 67.1%, average daily rate increased 3.9% to US$100.77, and revenue per available room finished the week up 9.9% to US$67.66.
Among the top 25 markets, Miami-Hialeah, Florida, reported the highest occupancy increase, up 24.6% to 74.2%; and San Francisco/San Mateo reported the highest ADR and RevPAR increases, up 21.4% to US$146.39 and up 36.2% to US$122.38, respectively.
The Canadian hotel industry didn’t show as strong results—up in occupancy and RevPAR but still tepid in rates.
In year-over-year measurements, the Canadian hotel industry ended the week with a 5% increase in occupancy to 69.2%, a 0.5% decrease in ADR to CAD$130.29 (US$135.18) and a 4.5% rise in RevPAR to CAD$90.19 (US$93.58).
Among the provinces, Alberta reported the largest occupancy increase, up 9.2% to 64.2%; and British Columbia reported the highest ADR and RevPAR increases, up 4.1% to CAD$143.11 (US$148.48) and up 13.3% to CAD$102.30 (US$106.14), respectively.
Did you know some franchisors are now setting up exclusive agreements with furniture, fixtures and equipment suppliers that will force owners to gut the hotel if they reflag? These agreements would complicate a franchisee’s exit because it means the franchisee’s hotel will be filled with proprietary FF&E material that likely will need to be replaced (at a significant cost) before moving on to the new brand.
“It can make it fiscally impossible to change brands,” said Roger Bloss, president and CEO of Vantage Hospitality Group.
HotelNewsNow.com Finance Editor Shawn A. Turner explores this issue, along with four other pieces of advice from hoteliers across the industry on how to handle terminating a franchise agreement.
HotelNewsNow.com News Editor Stacey Higgins has been in Shanghai less than 12 hours, but already the character of the city and its people are apparent, she writes in her first blog update.
Higgins is spending six nights at Le Royal Méridien Shanghai, a trip planned around the finale of the Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide executive relocation to China during the past month. On Monday, Frits Van Paasschen, CEO, and others will provide feedback about their month abroad—living and working in what most international hotel companies label as the hottest market for growth.
With access to more than 175,000 travel agencies and processing nearly 5 billon transactions a month, Pegasus Solutions is in a unique position to use electronic booking data to highlight trends emerging in the hospitality industry.
“All of that data collectively has proved to be very directional,” said Julie Parodi, senior director of strategic planning and analysis for Pegasus and editor of The Pegasus View. “We are able to see how our industry is performing, where it’s going, where it has been and where it’s trending.”
Parodi said a unique angle Pegasus can provide is data on forward-looking bookings approximately four months into the future. “It gives us a real good handle on how bookings are unfolding,” she said.
In an interview with HotelNewsNow.com News Editor Jason Q. Freed, Parodi outlined several trends electronic bookings are showing this season.
The U.S. unemployment rate ticked upward during June to 9.2%, from 9.1% in May, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
Total nonfarm employment increased by just 18,000 during the month. By contrast, an average 215,000 jobs had been added between February and April.
Compiled by Jason Q. Freed.
