Onondaga County hotel occupancy rate rockets higher in April from pandemic lows

SYRACUSE — Hotels in Onondaga County had significantly more guests filling rooms in April than in April 2020, which was when the COVID-19 pandemic slammed the hospitality industry the hardest, according to a recent report.

The hotel occupancy rate (rooms sold as a percentage of rooms available) in the county soared 152.4 percent to 46 percent in April compared to just over 18 percent in the year-earlier period, according to STR, a Tennessee–based hotel market-data and analytics company. 

Revenue per available room (RevPar), a key industry gauge that measures how much money hotels are bringing in per available room, more than tripled (up 221.5 percent) to $39.04 in April from about $12 in the same month a year ago.

Average daily rate (or ADR), which represents the average rental rate for a sold room, rose 27.4 percent to $84.88 in April compared to under $66 in April 2020.

The strong April 2021 hotel-occupancy report follows the March result when occupancy rose more than 40 percent from a year prior. These are the first two months in which the year-over-year comparisons were to a month affected significantly by the COVID crisis. The prior 12 reports each featured double-digit declines in occupancy as the comparisons were to a pre-pandemic month.