Oneida County hotel occupancy rate plummets nearly 42 percent in March

UTICA, N.Y. — Hotels in Oneida County saw a massive decrease in guests in March, as the coronavirus pandemic and its resulting government shutdowns of much of business and daily life in New York took effect, starting mid-month.

The hotel occupancy rate (rooms sold as a percentage of rooms available) in the county plunged 41.7 percent to 28.6 percent in March, compared to a year ago, according to STR, a Tennessee–based hotel market data and analytics company. The county’s hotels had posted occupancy increases of 3.2 percent in February and 7.6 percent in January, before the COVID-19 crisis struck here.

Revenue per available room (RevPar), a key industry gauge that measures how much money hotels are bringing in per available room, plummeted 45.8 percent to $26.88 in March.

Average daily rate (or ADR), which represents the average rental rate for a sold room, fell 7.1 percent to $94.01 in Oneida County this March.