An analysis from STR Analytics looks at Hotel weekday versus Hotel weekend performance in the top 25 U.S. markets.
When analyzing daily data, weekdays and weekends behave differently. Across many markets, weekday business is derived from business travelers and weekend business from leisure travelers. Traditionally, Friday and Saturday nights are categorized as weekend nights, and weekdays are the remaining five days.
When looking at the total United States average monthly occupancy by day of week, Sunday and Monday are the slowest nights.
How do Tuesday through Thursday nights stack up against the traditional weekend nights, Friday and Saturday?
For the purpose of this article, STR Analytics, sister company of Hotel News Now, defined weekday performance as Tuesday through Thursday nights and weekend performance as Friday and Saturday nights. We used February 2015 trailing 12-month data for the top 25 markets to understand how occupancy and rate compare after removing Sunday and Monday from the equation.
The map below shows whether the trailing 12-month average occupancy was higher on weekdays or weekends. Markets colored orange achieved higher weekend occupancy and markets colored blue achieved higher weekday occupancy. The majority of markets experience higher weekend occupancy, but typically at a lower rate, as shown in the next map.
How do Tuesday through Thursday nights stack up against the traditional weekend nights, Friday and Saturday?
For the purpose of this article, STR Analytics, sister company of Hotel News Now, defined weekday performance as Tuesday through Thursday nights and weekend performance as Friday and Saturday nights. We used February 2015 trailing 12-month data for the top 25 markets to understand how occupancy and rate compare after removing Sunday and Monday from the equation.
The map below shows whether the trailing 12-month average occupancy was higher on weekdays or weekends. Markets colored orange achieved higher weekend occupancy and markets colored blue achieved higher weekday occupancy. The majority of markets experience higher weekend occupancy, but typically at a lower rate, as shown in the next map.
The map below shows whether the trailing 12-month average daily rate was higher on weekdays or weekends. It’s not surprising that the six markets with higher weekend rates are well-defined leisure markets, such as New Orleans; Nashville, Tennessee; and Miami. A higher frequency of higher weekday rates is present in urban markets, such as New York City and Chicago.
The map below shows whether the trailing 12-month revenue per available room was higher on weekdays or weekends. In most of the markets, RevPAR is driven by ADR, as the ADR maps looks similar to the map below. The notable change from the ADR map is that St. Louis; Tampa; and Orlando, Florida, appear as markets where weekend RevPAR performance is stronger, which indicates a stronger contribution from weekend occupancy.
Overall, after excluding Sunday and Monday nights the general story of weekday versus weekend performance does not change. However, occupancy and ADR are lifted, making the two day of week segments a more competitive comparison.
The map below shows whether the trailing 12-month average daily rate was higher on weekdays or weekends. It’s not surprising that the six markets with higher weekend rates are well-defined leisure markets, such as New Orleans; Nashville, Tennessee; and Miami. A higher frequency of higher weekday rates is present in urban markets, such as New York City and Chicago.
The map below shows whether the trailing 12-month revenue per available room was higher on weekdays or weekends. In most of the markets, RevPAR is driven by ADR, as the ADR maps looks similar to the map below. The notable change from the ADR map is that St. Louis; Tampa; and Orlando, Florida, appear as markets where weekend RevPAR performance is stronger, which indicates a stronger contribution from weekend occupancy.
Weekdays always outperform in Houston. For all of the past 12 months, average weekday occupancy, ADR and RevPAR performance has been higher than the average weekend performance. New Orleans and Norfolk, Virginia, are the opposite, with consistently higher weekend performance.
The variance between weekday and weekend performance varies greatly across the top 25 markets. The orange data series represents the occupancy range between weekday and weekend performance, and the green data series represents the ADR percentage variance.
New York City has the lowest occupancy variance, but the highest average occupancy—87.1% weekday occupancy and 87.3% weekend occupancy—and an ADR variance of 9.1% or $56.81. Houston stands out near the top of both lists (where weekdays are always on top) with a 9.2-point occupancy difference and an ADR variance of 23.1% or $56.38.
Overall, after excluding Sunday and Monday nights the general story of weekday versus weekend performance does not change. However, occupancy and ADR are lifted, making the two day of week segments a more competitive comparison.
