COVID-19 webinar summary: 5 key points on U.S. & Canada, 9 April

Without a doubt, COVID-19 is having a devastating impact on the hotel industry. In Canada specifically, RevPAR dropped 85.4% for the week ending 4 April—the steepest RevPAR decline for any week in STR’s Canada database.

As STR continues its commitment to keeping the hospitality industry updated during the COVID-19 outbreak, our webinar series will provide in-depth updates on global regions. However, if you’re unable to watch the full session during this stressful period, you can find a summary of key points below.

Canada RevPAR drops 85.4% as number of cases increase

RevPAR has been decreasing as the number of COVID-19 cases rises in Canada. For the week ending 4 April, RevPAR declined 85.4%, the worst such RevPAR decrease in STR’s database.

Montreal: just 7 of 100 rooms on average occupied

STR’s most recent data for 4 April showed that just seven of 100 rooms on average were occupied in Montreal. Vancouver’s occupancy level of 17.2% was the highest market occupancy in Canada for the week.

Canada Luxury Class Hotels: Almost a 100% RevPAR decline

Luxury hotels in Canada saw a 96.9% RevPAR decline compared with the same week last year. That was followed by Upper Upscale Class hotels (-94.1%). This is obviously due to the lack of group and meeting demand and corporate travel.

U.S. room nights sold continue to drop

For the week, there were still 7.9 million room nights sold in the U.S. However, that was less than half of the rooms sold during the week ending 7 March (23.1 million).

Influx of first responders lifts New York City occupancy

New York City’s occupancy level increased slightly to 18.3%, compared with 14.2% the previous week. This occupancy increase is due to an influx of medical workers and first responders in the market.