U.S. Hotel Recovery Continues as Expectations Rise

The latest edition of the Duetto Pulse Report, which compared hotel performance data from May 2022 with April 2022 and cross-referenced this with previous years’ performance, shows that while the recovery is still going strong, pick-up and web traffic are up across the Americas, guests are now expecting more, and so review scores are dropping.

“One of the hotel industry’s shifting landscapes pertains to the diverging trajectory of guest satisfaction and RevPAR recovery trends. Lodging demand and pricing are moving in a positive direction, while guest review scores are sequentially declining due to numerous operating headwinds,” said Lloyd Biddle, director of product marketing, Duetto.

Biddle added, “There is an old saying in the hospitality industry that ‘today’s booking pace is tomorrow’s RevPAR result.’ While still true, the post-pandemic commercial strategy evolution broadens these parameters to a refreshed industry adage that ‘today’s consumer searches are tomorrow’s guest reviews.’”

U.S. Recovery Continues... The picture is bright in the United States, with RevPAR exceeding its 2019 benchmark for the third month in May. Month-over-month booking pace trends are still highlighting the strengthening of demand. However, lower ADRs on more recent bookings suggest a return to the practice of discounting closer to the arrival date to fill rooms (rate erosion) which was common practice before the pandemic.

U.S. web traffic shows a 31% month-over-month gain for stay dates across the rest of 2022, with an impressive 51% jump for July. The turndown ratio of regrets and denials was the lowest globally at 18% in May, and the ratio of the number of bookings divided by the total number of visitors (web conversion rate), stayed at a healthy 5%.