Canada hotels posted record‑high room rates for month of October

October 2024 (percentage change from 2023):

• Occupancy: 68.5 per cent (+0.8 per cent)
• Average daily rate (ADR): CAD200.59 (+2.4 per cent)
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): CAD137.32 (+3.2 per cent)

“In addition to the room rate growth, occupancy increased after contracting in September, notably driven by transient and weekday occupancy, pointing to strength from individual business travelers [SIC],” says Laura Baxter, CoStar Group’s director of hospitality analytics for Canada.

Among the provinces and territories, Nova Scotia recorded the highest occupancy level (74.7 per cent), which was 0.3 per cent below 2023.

Among the major markets, Toronto saw the highest occupancy (79.6 per cent), up 3.5 per cent over October 2023.

The lowest occupancy among provinces was reported in Prince Edward Island (58.2 per cent), up 3.2 per cent against 2023.

At the market level, the lowest occupancy was reported in Edmonton (-1.0 per cent to 58.4 per cent).

“Looking ahead to 2025, STR and Tourism Economics recently downgraded the RevPAR growth forecast to 1.5 per cent, while ADR is expected to grow more or less in line with inflation. Overall, we are expecting a marginal occupancy decline due to new inventory growth outpacing improvements in demand. Hotel development activity has picked up, with just fewer than 6,000 rooms in the final phase of the pipeline that are expected to open in 2025.

“From a demand perspective, consumers and businesses continue to contend with the lagged impact of higher interest rates, but we are anticipating spending to gradually increase throughout the year, particularly in the latter half of 2025. Group and international travel are expected to drive hotel performance growth next year.”