Hotels in major North American markets are continuing to experience growth driven by strong rates, according to data from the March 2015 TravelClick North American Hospitality Review (NAHR). While hotels continue to experience steady growth, group sales have decelerated.
“We’re finally moving out of the doldrums of winter into the spring but the cold weather has had an adverse effect as group sales pace has continued to decelerate from the strong gains sustained throughout most of 2014,” said John Hach, Senior Industry Analyst at TravelClick. “The cold weather and slowdown in group means hoteliers need to carefully monitor their local market group pace, especially going into the second quarter of 2015. The prolonged deceleration of group demand has the potential to adversely impact RevPAR later this year.”
12 Month Outlook (March 2015 – February 2016)
For the next 12 months (March 2015 – February 2016), overall committed occupancy* is up 1.1 percent when compared to the same time last year. ADR is up 4.5 percent based on reservations currently on the books.
Transient bookings (individual reservations made by business and leisure travelers) are up 1.3 percent year-over-year and ADR for this segment is up 4.7 percent. When broken down further, the transient leisure (discount, qualified and wholesale) segment is showing occupancy gains of 1.9 percent and ADR gains of 3.6 percent. Transient business (negotiated and retail) segment occupancy is up 0.9 percent and ADR is up 5.5 percent. Group segment occupancy is ahead by 0.9 percent and ADR is up 3.7 percent, compared to the same time last year.
Hach continued, “Looking at Q1, although committed occupancy shows only a slight increase, the majority of markets saw an increase in the pace of bookings. This indicated that those markets affected by this year’s uncharacteristically harsh winter are beginning to see positive growth.”
The March NAHR looks at group sales commitments and individual reservations in the 25 major North American markets for hotel stays that are booked by March 1, 2015 from the period of March 2015 to February 2016.
*Committed Occupancy – Transient rooms reserved + group rooms committed/capacity
**Reserved Occupancy – Total number of rooms reserved/capacity
The first quarter combines historical data (January and February) and forward looking data (March)
