While globally hotel stays remain relatively flat at all-time lows, the U.S. and Canada saw stays increase 10-30% week-over-week in May, according to the latest data from Onyx CenterSource, a leading global provider of B2B payments and business intelligence to the hospitality industry.
OnyxComp internal analytics show recent hotel stay trends in parts of the U.S. and Canada follow earlier data from China, shared on the Onyx blog yesterday, indicating signs of initial market recovery. In contrast, South America continues to see low hotel stay volumes, in line with the region’s ongoing struggle to contain COVID-19 spread. In week-over-week data reflecting actualized hotel stays since the beginning of 2020, industry trends showed the following:
- China experienced a steady increase in stays toward the end of April, after new COVID-19 cases dropped below an inflection point around 2,500 per week, which Onyx reported via its COVID-19 blog coverage
- The U.S. began to see an uptick of its own, with an increase in week-over-week hotel stays of just under 10% the week of May 16
- Canada also saw a sharp increase of 29% in week-over-week stays the week of May 16
Onyx’s global dataset has been vital to understand trends in worldwide hotel stays in the wake of the novel coronavirus, which has made revenue forecasting impossible for players across the hospitality industry. “These OnyxComp data insights tell us that the recovery roadmap is more a series of passageways that interconnect, with bends and curves, as opposed to a single straightaway,” said Mark Dubrow, CEO of Onyx CenterSource. “Factors beyond simply COVID-19 cases—such as varying policies governing reopenings, changed airline routes and access, and economic disparities—will affect how recovery looks in different segments of the global market.”
Within the U.S., there continues to be wide variability in recovery outlooks and timelines. In Hawaii, though COVID-19 cases decreased 27% from their early-April high, week-over-week transactions in mid-May were down nearly 40%, likely affected by the extended mandatory 14-day quarantine in effect until at least June 30, as well as limited air travel.
While Illinois is slowly reopening, Chicago is following a more extended, or conservative, approach to reopening, which has likely impacted hotel stay trends for the state. Illinois has seen relatively flat hotel stays throughout late March and April, with week-over-week transaction volumes increasing between 3-6% in mid-May.
In states where reopening activity has been ongoing the last few weeks, signs point to growth. Both Florida and Texas have seen week-over-week increases in stays between 8-18% in the first half of May.
“These are insights that have proven significant and valuable to our hotel and agency clients,” said Brian Clubb, SVP of Product Management at Onyx CenterSource. “This is such a challenging time in our industry, so any additional resources we can provide to support our clients, we are happy to offer. We want to be there for them, and they rely on us to be consultative and thorough in our analysis.” OnyxComp insights are available to hotel and agency clients and updated daily with the latest industry and coronavirus data.
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About Onyx CenterSource
Onyx CenterSource is a leading global provider of B2B payments and business intelligence solutions to the hospitality industry. The company strives to build long-lasting relationships with its partners and is passionate about providing quality customer service, consultative insight and cost-effective solutions. With a legacy dating to 1992, the company facilitates in excess of $2.1 billion in payments annually, partnering with more than 150,000 hotel properties and 200,000 travel booking providers in 160 countries. In addition to its headquarters in Dallas, Onyx CenterSource has regional hubs in Seville, Spain and Tønsberg, Norway. CommPay is a registered trademark of Onyx CenterSource.
