The Baird-STR Hotel Stock Index — comprising 20 of the largest hotel companies publicly traded on a U.S. stock exchange by market capitalization — was down 2.8% from April to May, underperforming the S&P 500 which grew by 0.5% for the month. Year to date as of May 28, the hotel stock index value has grown 12.8%.
Projections show roughly 0.5% supply growth compared to the long-term average of about 2%. The average time it takes the industry to grow from its low supply pace back to its long term average is about five years.
Hospitality jobs are rising but are still lower than a year ago. On the job site Indeed, hospitality and tourism job postings were 6.7% lower as of May 14 than on Feb. 1, 2020.
Year to date, U.S. hotels have sold an average of 56,000 group rooms per night, compared to 246,000 group rooms per night in 2019.
Visits to airports, hotels and theaters in less vaccinated states had recovered in April to 71.2% of pre-pandemic levels versus 52.7% in more vaccinated states.
At Airbnb, the length of stay is increasing. In 2019 at this period of time, 14% of bookings were longer than 28 days. Now, 24% of Airbnb nights are longer than 28 days.
The leisure and hospitality sector, including restaurants, added 331,000 jobs in April, accounting for much of the country’s job creation last month. Commerce’s Friday report showed sales at restaurants and bars in April were just 2% lower than their levels in February 2020, just before the pandemic took hold in the U.S.
The recovery of hotel demand is exacerbating the industry’s ongoing labor shortage, leading companies to explore new ways of recruiting employees to their hotels, including the possibility of paying them at the end of their shifts.
U.S. hotel revenue per available room for the week was 70% of what it was during the same week in 2019. RevPAR has been at or above 67% of 2019 levels for the past four weeks.
