RevPAR at NYC Hotels Sees Highest Increase Nationwide
A report recently released by research firm Evercore ISI indicated that revenue per available room, or Rev PAR, at New York City hotels rose sharply by 16% during the summer, not only representing the highest increase nationwide, but one of only three other cities — Washington and Houston, to post double-digit increases. It has been suggested that the city’s new Airbnb rules requiring hosts to register their homes and city contracting of some existing hotel stock to house the influx of migrants could be contributing to the surge. In September, nearly 20,000 listings were removed on Airbnb according to analytics firm AirDNA data. However, Vijay Dandapani, president of the Hotel Associations of New York City contends that the approximately 13% decline in hotel inventory due to the more than 15,000 rooms currently contracted to the city is the principal reason for the RevPar spike since the Airbnb rules went into effect too recently to affect hotel traffic. Dandapani further noted that despite diminished hotel inventory and surges in tourism, occupancy rates remain below pre-pandemic levels and employment remains depressed.