CBRE projects U.S. lodging sector recovery path

After facing the lowest occupancy levels since the 1930s and the greatest declines in revenues and profits ever experienced in the second quarter, the U.S. hotel industry is poised to begin a multiyear recovery in the third quarter, reported CBRE.

According to Kalibri Labs, the number of room nights occupied in U.S. hotels during the second quarter was 60 percent less than a year earlier. With such a dramatic decline in demand, the national occupancy level for the quarter was only 28.3 percent. It is estimated that 15 percent of U.S. hotels were forced to close for some portion of the three-month period.

“Fortunately for U.S. hoteliers, indicators of market recovery began to emerge during the quarter. After bottoming out in April, lodging demand increased 83 percent in May and June,” said Jamie Lane, senior director of CBRE Hotels Research. “This mini-surge in demand was fueled by leisure travelers looking to escape the bonds of home quarantine for safe and heal