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The U.S. hotel industry saw a slow start to the week as the final day of the Rosh Hashanah observance held back travel. However, overall occupancy for the week rose to 68.5% from 67.7% in the week prior. As compared to last year, occupancy was down 1.1 percentage points (ppts) due to a Rosh Hashanah calendar shift, with the observance occurring in the week ending 1 October last year.
U.S. hotel occupancy (67.7%) was both helped and hindered by calendar shifts. Occupancy showed a significant week-over-week increase, up 7.4 percentage points (ppts) from the period that included the Labor Day holiday. At the same time, occupancy was down 1.5 ppts compared to the same week last year due to the shift of the Rosh Hashanah observance, which occurred over the weekend on 15-17 September.
Article - Global Hotel Occupancy Still Surpassing Last Year's Levels - Weekly Global Hotel Performance Trends from STR: 10 16 September 2023
Entering the first days of September, U.S. hotel occupancy (62.7%) was nearly identical to the same week last year (62.6%) and in line with our expectations. The measure was 3.7 percentage points (ppts) lower than the 2019 comparable, but the difference between the two was less than the previous four weeks, when the differential averaged 5.2ppts.
Heading into the final days of August, U.S. hotel occupancy (65%) was lower for a fifth consecutive week, which is in line with normal seasonal patterns. The measure was up 0.3 percentage points (ppts) from a year ago but 4.9ppts lower than the 2019 comparable—similar to the previous four weeks. Occupancy is still expected to trend down for the next two weeks and then grow as group/conference travel climbs to its annual peak.