Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Choice Hotels International s Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Earnings Call.
U.S. hotel occupancy for the last week of 2022 reached 54.2%, which was the fourth highest level recorded for the comparable week over the past 23 years. Only the last weeks of 2016 (54.9%), 2015 (54.8%), and 2021 (54.3%) were higher. This year’s room demand, however, was the highest ever for the week. As compared to the three other years that matched exactly with the day of the week for Christmas and New Year’s Eve, this year’s occupancy was the second highest. Nominal average daily rate (ADR) reached an all-time high, surpassing the previous record that was set a year ago and increasing 4.4% year over year (YoY) to US$167. Nominal revenue per available room (RevPAR) was up 4.2% YoY to US$91. While not a record high, nominal RevPAR (US$91) was the highest versus comparable holiday weeks. Real ADR and RevPAR were both above 2019 but slightly trailed what was seen a year ago.
As we get closer to the holidays, hotel occupancy begins to slow, and this year was no exception. U.S. occupancy for the week of 11-17 December fell to 54.5% from 59.6% in the prior week. The decrease fell in line with expectations based on prior years. All days of the week saw a week-over-week (WoW) decrease with Tuesday through Thursday seeing the largest declines at -6.5 percentage points (ppts) and the remainder of days dropping by an average of 4ppts.