Three key metrics that measure a hotel's success, ADR, Occupancy rate and RevPAR were up in September 2022, over 2021 and even 2019.
Hoteliers have reason to be happy this fall, says Darryl Leggieri, the president of Discover Saratoga, the group that promotes the area to the rest of the state and beyond.
Leggieri reports that after a strong summer season, September continued the trend of upward room rates and beds filled, surpassing not only 2021 numbers but the pre-pandemic revenue per available room rates of 2019.
It's a trend that the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce reported today, also. The county unemployment rate is just 2.4% with a record 118,700 people working in the county. Sales tax was higher over previous years as was the median sales price of homes in September, the Chamber's report says.
"I'm really struck by how well Saratoga County continues to do, despite the economic forecast," said Todd Shimkus, the chamber's president. Yesterday, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to calm inflation, and some economists fear a recession is looming early next year.
Leggieri's report said people might not have seen it that way in September.
“The demand was strong, so our lodging partners were able to command a higher rate” per room, Legierri explained in a quick interview.
The average daily rate measures the revenue earned for an occupied room per day. Multiplying that by the occupancy rate — or the percentage of rooms rented in September — gives the revenue per available room.
Those three numbers, the ADR, Occupancy rate and RevPAR all showed increases over last year and 2019, he said.
“The weather was amazing this fall,” he said, adding “Everybody has confidence to travel.” As well, Saratoga is a relatively easy weekender for people downstate. Those travelers tend not to be as price sensitive for this sort of regional travel, he wrote in the press release. Gas prices and inflation do not affect them as much.
“The leaf peepers came out in full force. The colors were vivid,” he said. “Our members, like apple orchards and pumpkin patches, were really reaping the benefits.”
That was not all, he said. Groups holding events such as conferences and trade shows had canceled last year and rebooked this year, so the full bookings were playing catch-up from then.
“We had strong meetings and event business throughout the fall,” he said.
He said the combination of the corporate events which tend to take place on the weekdays, synced nicely with the leisure travelers who came up on the weekends.
In the report, he wrote that he expects the corporate event season to continue its strong pace through mid-November.
He believes, given the meetings and events expected for the first quarter of next year, that room rates will stay strong. He has been hearing optimism among hoteliers, despite the threat of a national economic downturn.
He said an example would be the Dance Flurry Festival in February. It is coming for its first in-person, mid-winter Flurry since 2020.
He said: “There’s still confidence out there.”
Shimkus said he has been wondering about the economy and speaking with people. One bank executive told him that Saratoga often enters a recession later than the rest of the country and exists more quickly.
At the same time, the pandemic made Saratoga a great place to visit and live, Shimkus said. With 3,000 more people working in September 2022 over 2021, that is 3,000 more spending money, too.
"I think it's all tied in together," he said.