According to Smith Travel Research, Inc., San Diego County hotels in the month of February averaged 75.9 percent occupancy, down 5.1 percent compared to last year. The average daily rate (ADR) of $160.77 was flat to last year. Impacting the performance has been the increased rain on weekends, and the large American Academy of Dermatology Convention at the San Diego Convention Center in 2018 but not 2019.
- Most San Diego regions saw declines in RevPAR, with both Downtown and Mission Bay experiencing 10% declines. The exceptions were the North Coastal (+3.4%) and North Inland (+6.9%) areas of the County. Mission Valley RevPAR was mostly flat (+0.9%).
- The weekends mostly drove the declines as Fridays were down 11 percent and Saturdays were down 8 percent in occupancy. Fridays and Saturdays were also the only days that saw declines in the average daily rates at -7 percent and -6 percent respectively.
- Group Occupancy fell 11 percent and Transient fell 2 percent in February among the Upscale/UpperUpscale/Luxury segments only.
- All hotel scales saw occupancy declines, and minimal growth in the average daily rate, with the exception of the Upper Upscale group which also lost 2.3 percent in rate over last year.
- Against the Top 25 US Markets, San Diego’s occupancy decline ranked San Diego 4th from the bottom and the flat ADR ranked San Diego 7th from the bottom. San Francisco led the U.S. with a 4.1 percent occupancy gain in February, and a 23 percent gain in ADR. Only Atlanta had a greater gain at 29 percent growth in ADR due to the Super Bowl. The rest of the western region competitive set markets all posted declines in occupancy and small gains in ADR.
- February performance brings Calendar YTD San Diego occupancy growth to -0.9 percent, 2.8 percent growth in ADR, and 1.8 percent growth in RevPAR. The declines in February came following a very strong January, which posted double-digit gains in ADR and RevPAR.
March Expectations – March weekly data looks to follow February’s performance. The first 2 weeks of March are showing occupancy down 2 to 3 percent and ADR up 1 to 2 percent. San Francisco looks like it will have another strong month, while other western region competitive set markets are showing weakness similar to San Diego.
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