Va. hotel revenues down 19% from Nov. 2019 levels

Virginia hotel revenues in November were 19% below November 2019 levels, according to data released Wednesday by 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 12% compared with 2019 levels. The average daily rate (ADR) paid for hotel rooms decreased 8% to $105, while revenue per available room (RevPAR) fell to $60.26, a 19% decrease from its November 2019 level.

The November ADR and RevPAR are improvements 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 week of November 2020, the statewide ADR was $82.21, and RevPAR was $36.99. For the week of Nov. 8 through Nov. 14, the ADR was $81.62, and RevPAR was $36.23. From Nov. 22 through Nov. 28, Virginia hotels’ ADR was $78.64, and its RevPAR $27.92.

December numbers will likely be lower because historically, leisure travel drops off during the holidays, Terry said Wednesday.

A bright spot, however, is Williamsburg’s increase in rate and occupancy.

“Even though they’re still below the statewide average, I think they had some really good growth there,” Terry said. Although he didn’t attribute the success to one specific factor, Busch Gardens, Colonial Williamsburg programming and an increased marketing budget could have contributed.

Hampton Roads had hotel revenues 9% higher than those recorded for the same month in 2019. The Hampton Roads hotel industry also continues to outperform the top 25 markets in the nation in terms of growth in both revenue and RevPAR, according to a news release from Old Dominion University’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy.

Within the region, Virginia Beach saw a 21% increase in revenue, and the Williamsburg submarket had the largest decrease, with revenue dropping 8% compared to November 2019.

In Northern Virginia, hotel revenue was 48% lower than its November 2019 level, while Richmond’s revenue was down 6%. The Roanoke market saw a 14% decline and Charlottesville 7%, but those accounted for 6% of total hotel revenue in Virginia in 2019. In 2019, the Northern Virginia market accounted for 43% of revenue generated, and it is responsible for the decline in the state’s 2021 numbers, according to ODU’s news release.

“Northern Virginia continues to lag behind the rest of the state, with some of our markets being quite a bit stronger,” because of a lack of corporate and group travel, Terry said.

The number of rooms sold last month decreased by 32% in Northern Virginia compared to the number sold in November 2019. The Charlottesville market sold 10% fewer rooms, and Hampton Roads had a 2% decline in rooms sold. The Chesapeake/Suffolk submarket had an increase of 4.5% rooms sold, better than other Hampton Roads submarkets.