According to Hotelmanagement.net, “U.S. weekly hotel occupancy jumped almost seven points from the previous week (STR‘s data for the week of March 14-20).”
The article also states that the occupancy rate of 58.9 percent has been at the highest level in the U.S. since March of 2020.
Hotelbusiness.com further reiterates the good news that Americans are starting to travel again: “As Americans begin receiving vaccinations for COVID-19, many are already planning to travel this year. In fact, more than half (58%) say they have travel plans this year, with one-third of those planning on vacationing during spring break. Some are not wasting any time as 42% already have their trips booked.”
I would suggest these numbers are conservative and could be affected by the demographics of the respondents and the fact that it is a relatively small sample size.
If you factor in stimulus checks, tax refunds, and overall infections dropping, people are going to book travel. Additionally, the trust in the pandemic safety and cleaning protocols within the travel and lodging industries makes traveling an easier decision today than it was prior to these across-the-board standards being in place.
Five Diamond Screening, the only background screening and drug testing provider that focuses solely on the hospitality, leisure and transportation Industries, has found that hotels are ramping up their hiring due to the increase in bookings.
