STR: U.S. hotels’ profits stall in September

Performance moved away from pre-pandemic levels for first time since May

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GOPPAR finished September at $8.14, down 91.7 percent from last year, according to STR. TRevPAR was down 72.4 percent from last year to $68.58, EBITDA PAR was down 109.3 percent to $-7.03 and labor costs also were down 62.1 percent from last year to $31.94. Several major urban markets, including New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Orlando, were still seeing negative profits.

U.S. HOTELS TURNED profits in September, but year-over-year improvements stalled, according to STR’s P&L report for the month. Urban properties continue to operate without profits, but the number of top markets with positive GOPPAR increased.

GOPPAR finished the month at $8.14, down 91.7 percent from last year. TRevPAR was down 72.4 percent from last year to $68.58, EBITDA PAR was down 109.3 percent to $-7.03 and labor costs also were down 62.1 percent from last year to $31.94.

Compared to other months, GOPPAR was down 91.3 percent from last year in August, down 93.3 percent in July, down 105.4 percent in June and down 117.7 percent in May.

“GOPPAR came in a bit higher than August on an absolute basis, but for the first time since May, industry performance moved further away from pre-pandemic levels,” said Audrey Kallman, operations analyst at STR. “Among the findings from September data, we saw that urban properties are the only location type still operating without profitability, while the small metro and interstate hotels continue to operate with the highest profitability. Additionally, catering & banquet revenues are only 15% of what they were last year due to group business being virtually non-existent.”

Kallman said a positive development for the month was that the number of top markets with positive GOPPAR increased from eight in August to 12 in September.

U.S. hotels’ profits continued to lag other markets around the world in September, according to HotStats. Hotel profits for the month stood at negative $9.19, down 34 percent from the month prior and a 109.6 percent year-over-year decrease, according to new data from HotStats. It was the seventh consecutive month for negative profits, according to the report, with similar results seen in August.