Jefferson County hotels see fewer than half of rooms occupied in October

WATERTOWN — Just under one out of two Jefferson County hotel rooms, on average, were occupied in October amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to a recent report. 

The hotel-occupancy rate (rooms sold as a percentage of rooms available) in the county came in at 45.8 percent in October, down 16.1 percent from October 2019, according to STR, a Tennessee–based hotel market data and analytics company. Year to date, hotel occupancy in the county is down almost 31 percent to 37.9 percent.

Jefferson County’s revenue per available room (RevPar), a key industry gauge that measures how much money hotels are bringing in per available room was $41.02 in October, down 23.7 percent from year-earlier levels. Through the first 10 months of this year, RevPar was down 37.5 percent to $35.10.

Average daily rate (or ADR), which represents the average rental rate for a sold room, was $89.63 in October, down 9 percent from a year prior. Year to date, ADR was off almost 10 percent to $92.69.