Va. hotel revenues fell 42% in December 2020

Trends on par with troublesome year for hospitality industry

Published February 1, 2021 by Sydney Lake

Virginia hotel revenues for December 2020 were on trend for a year that saw the hospitality industry suffer from the pandemic. Compared with December 2019, hotel revenues statewide declined by 42% during December 2020, according to data released Monday from STR Inc., a CoStar Group division that provides weekly market data on the U.S. hospitality industry.

For the same period, rooms sold declined by 26%. The average daily rate (ADR) paid for hotel rooms dropped 21% to $77.13, while revenue per available room (RevPAR) fell to $27.94, a 41% decline.

“Performance of the hotels in the commonwealth during December was in general better than November 2020,” said Professor Vinod Agarwal of Old Dominion University’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy in a statement released Monday. “Rising COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths in the recent past continued to adversely impact this industry.”

Hotel revenues and rooms sold declined in most markets in Virginia during December 2020, compared with December 2019. Revenues fell 61% in Northern Virginia, 37% in Charlottesville and 23% in Hampton Roads. During November 2020, revenues fell 66% in Northern Virginia, 41% in Charlottesville and 32% in Hampton Roads. The number of rooms sold during the month of December 2020 in Northern Virginia was down by 46% Charlottesville is down by 23% and Hampton Roads is down by 12%. 

Williamsburg continues to be the hardest-hit locality in Hampton Roads, seeing a 49% decline in revenue.

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.