Hampton Roads hotel industry ends streak of highest occupancy rate in market; performance sees slight increase

(WAVY photo/Jack Noonan)

Posted: Nov 4, 2020 / 08:10 PM MST

Updated: Nov 4, 2020 / 08:10 PM MST

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — The Old Dominion University Dragas Center for Economic Analysis released new data on Wednesday that show a decrease in hotel revenues and rooms sold throughout Virginia and Hampton Roads this week.

The local hotel industry’s streak of having the highest occupancy rate among the top 25 markets in the nation, ended this week. Its occupancy rate is now ranked fourth among the top markets.

Dragas says that the area continues to see the smallest declines in both occupancy and RevPAR among the top 25 markets since the week of Sept. 6 through Sept. 12.

According to STR data released, hotel revenues are down 45%, and rooms sold are down by 28% since this time last year.

In some instances, data shows that the Average Daily Rate paid for a hotel room during the week of Oct. 25 dropped 23% and the Revenue Per Available Room dropped by 44%.

That is putting some hotel stays at less than $83.62 a room — which is slightly cheaper than the last report.

The overall occupancy rate of hotels in Hampton Roads for the past four weeks — when compared with the same time last year — shows a decline by 18%, ADR by 13%, and RevPAR by 28%.

Rooms sold during the latest week fell by 46% in the Virginia portion of the Washington market and 17% in the Hampton Roads market. The Chesapeake/Suffolk market fared better than other submarkets in Hampton Roads with a decrease in rooms sold by 11.6%.

Within the Hampton Roads market, hotel revenue fell by 38% in Williamsburg, 35% in Norfolk/Portsmouth, 27% in Newport News/Hampton, 19% in Chesapeake/Suffolk, and 18.5% in Virginia Beach.

Rooms sold fell by 32% in Williamsburg, 19% in Norfolk/Portsmouth, 14% in Newport News/Hampton, and 13% in Virginia Beach.

Over the last four weeks, the data also shows that the Williamsburg hotel market has the poorest performance. The city led with declines in occupancy by 41%, ADR by 13%, RevPAR by 49%, room revenues by 51%, and rooms sold by 44%.

“Performance of the hotels in the commonwealth during this week was in general slightly better than last week,” said Professor Vinod Agarwal of the Dragas Center. “COVID-19 continues to have adverse impacts on this industry.”