Do you want the good news or bad news first? Well, both aren't that great. STR released its October performance numbers and the industry posted declines in the three categories that matter most: occupancy was down 6.2 percent to 58.1 percent, ADR fell 8.2 percent to $99.08 and RevPAR dropped 13.8 percent to finish at $57.57.
The less bad news, if you will, is that the declines are less than those over the past three months or those year to date (check out the charts from STR). So we're still falling, just not as fast. Mark Lomanno, STR president, said "It appears it will take a few more months of better demand results before any pricing rebound occurs.”
The economy may be headed from recession to recovery, but it's not going to happen overnight, especially not for the hotel industry. A recent story in the NY Times suggested recovery was still a long way off and Lalia Rach, the dean of the hospitality program at the Tisch Center, cautioned that lowered quality and customer service as a result of staff cuts would make a quick rise in rates impossible.
Another story from STR suggests travel and hotel performance could improve this holiday weekend compared to a year ago, but still below 2007 levels. Any improvement would give the industry something to be thankful for.