Increase in hotel room revenues, rooms sold is expected in coming weeks for Hampton Roads

Posted: May 20, 2020 / 05:47 PM MDT

Updated: May 20, 2020 / 05:58 PM MDT

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — The Old Dominion University Dragas Center for Economic Analysis released its weekly updated data on Wednesday that shows Virginia and Hampton Roads hotels may see slight increases in hotel revenue as stays may begin to increase over the next few weeks.

The hope is that Memorial Day weekend — running from Friday, May 22 through Monday, May 25 — will bring a much-needed increase to the state economy especially now that Governor Northam has eased certain restrictions for the local beaches.

“Hotel Revenues and rooms sold have declined in every major market in Virginia, and we expect these declines to get smaller in the coming weeks,” according to the ODU Dragas Center.

According to STR data released, hotel revenues are down 78%, and rooms sold are down by 60% since this time last year. Both values are about one percent higher than the data reported last week.

In some instances, data shows that the Average Daily Rate paid for a hotel room during the week of May 10 to May 16 dropped by 45% which 3% higher than last week. The Revenue Per Available Room dropped by 76% which is one percent higher than last week.

That is putting some hotel stays at less than $71.66 a room — which is a slight increase from recent data.

The data suggests in Hampton Roads, occupancy and RevPAR numbers may have been at much lower percentages if some hotels did not reduce the supply of available rooms.

In Hampton Roads — for the week of May 10 when compared to the first week of March — occupancy is down by 6.5%, available rooms declined by 21.3% in Williamsburg, 3% in Newport News, and by 3.3% in Virginia Beach which is marginally smaller than last week’s numbers.

The Chesapeake and Suffolk, Newport News and Hampton submarkets appear to be faring better than other submarkets in Hampton Roads, as they typically rely on business travelers and not as much leisure or tourism travel. In these two markets, hotel revenues declined by 48% and 53%, respectively.

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 50%, ADR by 42%, and RevPAR by 71%.

Data shows that hotel revenue fell 89% in Williamsburg; 70% in Virginia Beach; 67% in Norfolk and Portsmouth; 48% in Chesapeake and Suffolk; and 53% in Newport News and Hampton since this time last year.

Over the last four weeks, the data also shows that the Williamsburg hotel market continues to have the poorest performance. The city led with declines in occupancy by 78%, ADR by 54%, RevPAR by 90%, room revenues by 92%, and rooms sold by 83%.

As the state continues to reopen, the hospitality industry is following guidelines set forth in Governor Ralph Northam’s Forward Virginia blueprint with Phase 1 that began May 15.

“We expect to see an improvement in room revenues as well in rooms sold over the coming weeks,” said Professor Vinod Agarwal of the Dragas Center. “We should brace ourselves for a slower rebound as the state and nation reopen from COVID-19, however. It will take time for business and leisure travelers to fill rooms again.”