STR: Canada hotel performance surpassed pre‑pandemic levels in November

November 2022 (percentage change from November 2019)

Occupancy: 61.0 per cent (+1.6 per cent)

Average daily rate (ADR): CAD169.69 (+14.8 per cent)

Revenue per available room (RevPAR): CAD104.98 (+16.6 per cent)

“Top-line performance recovery showed astounding strength in November, reinforcing that travel is still a priority despite high inflation and a dimming economic outlook,” said Laura Baxter, CoStar Group’s director of hospitality analytics for Canada. CoStar Group is the parent company of STR.

“When indexed to 2019, the key performance metrics aligned with the previous recovery peak in July,” Baxter said. “The improvement over recent months was partially due to a higher occupancy index, which was 1.6 per cent above the 2019 pre-pandemic comparable. New recovery milestones were realized in both weekday and weekend occupancy, signalling strength in both corporate and leisure travel. The weekday occupancy index, which can be used as a proxy for corporate travel demand recovery, was in line with 2019 for the first time of the pandemic era. The weekend occupancy index, used as a proxy for leisure travel recovery, pushed ahead to 107 per cent of the 2019 level. Transient occupancy also reached an all-time recovery high, up 10 per cent over November 2019, while the group index was slightly softer than last month, down 13 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels.”

“Meanwhile, ADR was also on an upwards trajectory, with the lift over 2019 coming in stronger month over month. Nominal growth in the metric was up 14.8 per cent, and with overall inflation slightly cooling in November, real ADR growth was 1.6 per cent. The added momentum comes from improvements on weekends, as weekday ADR has remained steady. With weekend occupancy at an all-time high, weekend rates hit a new recovery milestone, up 22 per cent over 2019.

Among the provinces and territories, Manitoba recorded the highest November occupancy level (76.6 per cent), which surpassed the pre-pandemic comparable by 16.3 per cent.

Among the major markets, Vancouver recorded the highest occupancy (75.9 per cent), which was 3.5 per cent above November 2019.

Alberta (53.4 per cent) saw the lowest occupancy among provinces, up 3.2 per cent against 2019. At the market level, the lowest occupancy was reported in Edmonton (53.5 per cent) which was 2.8 per cent below the 2019 comparable.

“Overall, we expect a strong finish to the year with December events such as the two-week UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) in Montreal set to positively impact demand and ADR. Holiday parties are also back in force, which will improve F&B revenue,” Baxter said.

Feature image: Photo by Aidan Fisher.