After four consecutive months of year-over-year declines, Canada’s hotel industry reported an increase in occupancy.

April 2024 (percentage change from 2023):

• Occupancy: 64.0% (+2.7%)
• Average daily rate (ADR): CAD188.39 (+5.1%)
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): CAD120.64 (+8.0%)

“The year-over-year growth in occupancy suggests that downward pressure on hotel demand related to weaker economic conditions will not be linear, as the period from December through March suggested,” said Laura Baxter, CoStar Group’s director of hospitality analytics for Canada.

“A calendar shift also influenced results, with some corporate group and transient demand being pushed to April to avoid the Easter break and other holidays. The reverse occurred with Easter in April 2023, so this year’s growth rates are not exactly apples to apples. However, when combining March and April, demand grew 1% year over year.

“Room rate growth accelerated in April, mostly driven by groups which posted an increase of 10.5%. Occupancy in the segment also stood out, up 3.7%, benefitting from weekday group demand.”

Among the provinces and territories, Ontario recorded the highest April 2024 occupancy level (68.1%), which was 4.2% above 2023.

Among the major markets, Vancouver saw the highest occupancy (79.3%), down 0.6% over April 2023.

The lowest occupancy among provinces was reported in Prince Edward Island (41.5%), up 2.2% against 2023.

At the market level, the lowest occupancy was reported in Edmonton (+2.5% to 60.9%).

“When looking at performance by class, luxury hotels reported a 4% lift in occupancy in April,” Baxter said. “Higher-end hotels have posted marginal occupancy growth year to date, while all other classes are contracting year over year, likely directly related to weaker economic conditions, with consumers who typically stay in Luxury or Upper Upscale hotels more immune to belt-tightening. On a positive note, select- and limited-service hotels also reported occupancy growth for the month.”

STR provides premium data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights for the global hospitality industry. Founded in 1985, STR maintains a presence in 15 countries with a corporate North American headquarters in Hendersonville, Tennessee, an international headquarters in London, and an Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore. STR was acquired in October 2019 by CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGP), the leading provider of commercial real estate information, analytics and online marketplaces. For more information, please visit www.str.com