Va. hotel revenues remain below 2019 levels

Virginia hotel revenues for September decreased by 21% compared with pre-pandemic levels in September 2019, according to newly released data from STR Inc., a CoStar Group division that provides market data on the U.S. hospitality industry.

During the same period, hotel rooms sold decreased by 6%. The average daily rate (ADR) paid for hotel rooms decreased 2% from the September 2019 rate to $112.50, while revenue per available room (RevPAR) fell to $69.38, an 8% decrease from its September 2019 level.

The September ADR is a slight improvement from 2020 levels, but Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Association President Eric Terry has said that comparisons to 2019 numbers are more balanced than comparisons to 2020. In the first full week of September 2020, the ADR was $90.28, and the RevPAR was $41.81. From Sept. 13 to Sept. 19, Virginia hotel’s ADR was $88.27 and its RevPAR $42.41, and for the week ending Oct. 3, the ADR was $86.20 and the RevPAR $41.25.

The concern continues to be Northern Virginia, which is suffering from a lack of corporate and government travel as well as group meetings, Terry said.

“We’re seeing some basic recovery in Hampton Roads and Richmond and those areas, but just not so much in Northern Virginia,” he said. “Unfortunately, that’s the bulk of our hotel rooms. We have more hotel rooms in Arlington than in any other jurisdiction in the state.”

Arlington has a 48% hotel room occupancy rate, and the Tysons/Fairfax area a 51% rate, he said.

In Northern Virginia, hotel revenue decreased 39% compared with September 2019 levels. The Charlottesville market saw a 1% increase from its September 2019 revenue, and the Hampton Roads market had a 21% increase. Revenues increased in all Hampton Roads submarkets — by 8% in Williamsburg, 10% in Newport News/Hampton, 19% in Chesapeake/Suffolk, 20% in Norfolk/Portsmouth and 31% in Virginia Beach.

The number of rooms sold last month decreased by 24% in Northern Virginia and 10% in Charlottesville compared with September 2019. Hampton Roads’ number was unchanged, although the Norfolk/Portsmouth submarket had an 8% increase in rooms sold.