Onondaga County hotel occupancy rate falls more than 14 percent in June

SYRACUSE — Hotels in Onondaga County welcomed substantially fewer guests in June than in the year-ago month, according to a recent report.

The hotel occupancy rate (rooms sold as a percentage of rooms available) in the county plummeted 14.2 percent to 63.4 percent in June from 74 percent a year earlier, according to STR, a Tennessee–based hotel market data and analytics company. It was the ninth straight month in which Onondaga County’s occupancy rate declined compared to the year-earlier period. Year to date, hotel occupancy in the county was down 8.9 percent to 53.2 percent. 

To be sure, Onondaga County last year hosted the U.S. Bowling Congress — at the Oncenter in Syracuse — from late March through early July. That pumped an estimated more than 40,000 hotel room night stays into the market. No similar event is taking place this year, making it difficult to match last year’s hotel occupancy numbers. 

Revenue per available room (RevPar), a key industry gauge that measures how much money hotels are bringing in per available room, declined 16.5 percent to $64.19 in June from $76.89 in June 2018. Through the first six months of the year, the county’s RevPar declined 8.2 percent to $53.90.

Average daily rate (or ADR), which represents the average rental rate for a sold room, slipped 2.7 percent to $101.19 in June from $103.95 a year prior. Year to date, Onondaga County’s ADR was up 0.7 percent to $101.30.