The Duetto Pulse report regional insights below point to underlying strength in hospitality fundamentals as the industry rebound continues.
The 101 days of summer came to a close with a bang in the US, with industry records being broken once again due to leisure-driven Labor Day holiday travel, and figures remain elevated through to the end of the year. Meanwhile, bookings across the EMEA region also jumped in September, and continue to show gains as we head into year-end. In APAC, confidence in travel is returning, with pick up also accelerating towards the end of the year.
Looking ahead, we aggregated user forecasts, for hotels running on Duetto, to glean the following insights for the balance of 2021:
- Across the Americas, users project occupancy percentages to remain relatively consistent in the low-60s from September through November, before dropping to an annual seasonal low of 50% in December. YoY ADR growth remains highly elevated through the balance of the year. Group demand growth outpaces transient demand growth from September to November, but partially due to the low single-digit group occupancy base. Users do not expect group demand to outpace transient in December with group occupancy falling to just 6% across the global region.
- In Europe, aggregate user forecasts also show a flattening of the typically seasonal occupancy percent curve in the mid-50s from September to November with single-digit group occupancy sequentially eroding to just 5% in December. After a slight breather, YoY transient demand growth returns to triple digits to end the year on a strong note in November and December.
While 2022 user budgets are yet to be finalized, a sneak peek reveals the following insights for the new year.
- The pent-up leisure demand surges this past summer, and resulting all-time record highs will be harder to replicate next year. The shape of the usual seasonal occupancy curve in 2022, although higher, looks a lot more like 2021 than 2019.
- That being said, the record ADR performance reported by many hotels across various global markets in 2021 will make for tough(er) YoY comparisons next year. As a result, aggregate user budgets show ADR performance trending negatively in Q3 2022. This transient rate “pressure” also spills over into lower group pricing in the second half of next year.
