COVID-19 crushes area hotel occupancy

Central Florida hotel occupancy and revenue plunged last week as the coronavirus pandemic battered one of the region’s most important industries.

New data shared Wednesday by the industry tracker STR showed 14% of Central Florida’s more than 125,000 rooms had occupants during the week of March 22-28.

That’s an 83.6% drop compared with last year.

The study also showed that hotels earned a paltry $11.50 per available room during that same time frame, 91% below last year. In the first week of March, hotels were earning $106.46 per available room and had an occupancy rate of 76.7%. “Year-over-year declines of this magnitude will, unfortunately, be the ‘new normal’ until the number of new [coronavirus] cases slows significantly,” said Jan Freitag, STR’s senior VP of lodging insights in a news release.

Freitag said he expects 2020 to be the worst year on record for hotel stays but that he expects the industry to recover.

The coronavirus has ground Central Florida’s tourism industry to a halt during what is usually the busiest time of the year, as its spread led to a series of stay-at-home orders and a near-complete shutdown of vacation travel. Hotels, theme parks, nonprofits and businesses in most sectors have had to furlough employees or lay them off.

Last week, President Donald Trump and Congress passed a stimulus package meant to partially offset the damage the pandemic has done to consumers and businesses.

However, American Hotel & Lodging Association CEO Chip Rogers told the industry news site Skift that hotel industry benefits in the deal likely would not be enough.

The package includes special funding for hotels, casinos, bars and restaurants with less than 500 employees.