HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee—The Democratic National Convention, held 25-28 August 2008 in Denver, Colorado, proved to be a large influence not only on the market’s year-over-year comparisons for the week but the total U.S. comparisons as well. Denver reported the largest decrease in ADR and RevPAR, which were down 51.2 percent to US$91.31 and 61.3 percent to US$57.5, respectively, in year-over-year comparisons for week ending 29 August 2009.
“The week ending 29 August 2009 had a difficult year-over-year comparison on two fronts,” said Chad Church, industry research manager at Smith Travel Research. “Last year’s week ending 30 August 2008 led up to the Labor Day holiday, a heavy leisure demand weekend, and the 2008 Democratic National Convention was held August 25-28. While the impact from the DNC was insignificant on total U.S. occupancy, the year-over-year room rate losses in Denver did impact national ADR by approximately a half percentage point.”
Among the Top 25 Markets, only two markets reported increases in any of the three key metrics. Boston, Massachusetts, a 1.4 percent occupancy increase to 75.0 percent, followed by Oahu Island, Hawaii, with a 1.2-percent increase to 77.9 percent.
Atlanta, Georgia, experienced the largest occupancy decrease, falling 23.0 percent to 44.6 percent.
Dallas, Texas, posted the smallest ADR decrease, down 2.0 percent to US$86.26. St. Louis, Missouri-Illinois (-4.7 percent to US$84.19), and Nashville, Tennessee (-3.4 percent to US$87.10) also reported ADR decreases of less than 5 percent.
Of the Top 25 Markets, only two posted single-digit RevPAR decreases. Boston was down 8.1 percent to US$98.23 and Washington, D.C., dropped 9.2 percent to US$69.59.
Overall, the U.S. industry’s occupancy fell 12.4 percent in year-over-year comparisons to end the week at 54.4 percent. Average daily rate dropped 11.0 percent to finish the week at US$94.01. Revenue per available room for the week decreased 22.0 percent to finish at US$51.10.
