Oneida County’s hotels see big business bounce back in first five months of year

UTICA, N.Y. — Oneida County’s hotels saw a large rebound in guests in the first five months of 2021 as the hospitality and travel and leisure industries recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The county’s hotel occupancy rate (rooms sold as a percentage of rooms available) jumped 32.5 percent to 45.8 percent year to date through […]

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UTICA, N.Y. — Oneida County’s hotels saw a large rebound in guests in the first five months of 2021 as the hospitality and travel and leisure industries recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The county’s hotel occupancy rate (rooms sold as a percentage of rooms available) jumped 32.5 percent to 45.8 percent year to date through May, compared to the same period in 2020.That’s according to a report from STR, a Tennessee–based hotel market data and analytics company.

Oneida County’s occupancy increases were much bigger in March (73 percent), April (nearly 100 percent), and May (81 percent) as the comparisons were to the early months of the pandemic in 2020. In January and February of this year, occupancy fell 14 percent and more than 15 percent, respectively, as the comparisons were to a pre-pandemic month in 2020.

Revenue per available room (RevPar), a key industry gauge that measures how much money hotels are bringing in per available room, rose more than 34 percent to $44.40 year to date, through May of this year.

Average daily rate (or ADR), which represents the average rental rate for a sold room, edged up 1.3 percent to $97.03 in the first five months of 2021.

Adam Rombel: