HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. — The Canadian hotel industry reported slightly higher performance in February, compared with recent months, according to data from STR.
In February, Canadian hotel occupancy was at its highest level since November 2020, while Average Daily Rate (ADR) and Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) were the highest since October 2020. Year-over-year declines remained significant, but will improve in future months due to comparisons with pandemic-affected months last year. Year-over-year comparison reveals a 53-per-cent decline in occupancy to 27.3, a 25.2-per-cent drop in ADR to $112.90 and RevPAR decline of 64.8 per cent to $30.86.
“Canada hotel performance remained subdued through the first two months this year, as group demand was almost non-existent while some essential corporate and leisure travel continued to generate minimal transient hotel demand,” says Laura Baxter, director of Hospitality Analytics for Canada at STR’s parent company, CoStar Group. “More recently, the full impact of the restrictions on inbound air travel remains to be seen, but weekly hotel-performance data shows occupancy rising significantly in the airport submarkets in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. The Vancouver-airport submarket saw occupancy above 55 per cent over the last two weeks — marking the first time the metric has exceeded 50 per cent in the submarket since late March 2020.”
Looking ahead, Baxter notes RevPAR comparisons are forecast to “push out of the red” in April and end the year with approximately 20-per-cent growth, which will be driven by slow improvements to occupancy. ADR is expected to see a slight decline from last year.
“The current forecast is based upon the assumption that gradual progress will be made toward containment of the virus in Q3,” explains Baxter. “The forecast for Q3 includes pent-up leisure demand returning over the summer months and some corporate and international travel in Q4. Group travel is expected to return gradually, albeit severely depressed for the rest of the year.”
At the provincial level, Newfoundland and Labrador reported February’s lowest occupancy level, with a 64.4-per-cent decline to 14.3 per cent. With RevPAR at $13.29 (down 72 per cent year over year), it also saw the lowest RevPAR level of the provinces. With occupancy for the month at 34.7 per cent (down 45.7 per cent), B.C. recorded the highest occupancy among the provinces.
At the market level, Montreal saw the lowest February occupancy of the major markets, reporting 16.1 per cent occupancy (down 74.1 per cent), while Vancouver saw the highest occupancy of the major markets at 33.3 per cent (down 54.4 per cent).
