Virginia hotel revenues still down, compared to 2019

Virginia hotel revenues for July 2021 decreased by 3% compared with pre-pandemic levels in July 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, rooms sold decreased by 6%. The average daily rate (ADR) paid for hotel rooms decreased 4% from July 2019 to $122.28, while revenue per available room (RevPAR) fell to $83.15, a 3% decrease from its July 2019 level.

The July ADR is an improvement from pandemic levels in 2020, though. In the first full week of July 2020, the ADR was $94.48, and in the second full week, $96.08. For the week ending July 25, the ADR was $95.89, and $95.33 for the final week.

Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Association President Eric Terry has said that comparisons to 2019 numbers are more balanced than comparisons to 2020. “We still haven’t recovered to the 2019 numbers,” Terry said.

Hotel revenues in some Virginia markets are still below July 2019 levels, although Hampton Roads markets saw increases. But Terry noted that even the Hampton Roads numbers are starting to fall off as the school year begins.

In Northern Virginia, hotel revenue decreased by 37% compared with July 2019 levels, and the Charlottesville market saw an 11% decrease. Revenues increased in all Hampton Roads submarkets — by 13% in Williamsburg, 19% in Newport News/Hampton, 37% in Virginia Beach, 24% in Norfolk/Portsmouth and 21% in Chesapeake/Suffolk.

“The lack of corporate business and government travel is continuing to hurt hotels,” Terry said. “The fact that corporate travel and government travel and meetings have not recovered is going to be a struggle. I think it’s really reliant on companies starting to travel again.”

The number of rooms sold last month decreased 26% in Northern Virginia and 16% in Charlottesville compared with July 2019, but Hampton Roads saw a 4% increase and Virginia Beach saw a 9% increase.