NATIONAL REPORT - With the
first of the 2024 U.S. presidential nomination conventions a month away, a new report from STR shows that since 2000, those
events have led to accelerated gains in ADR and RevPAR for the host cities -- this year Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the Republicans from July 15-18 and Chicago for the Democrats from August 19-22.
More
importantly, it says those gains occur on summer weekdays, which normally have
seasonally diminished bookings from business travel or conventions.
Forward STAR data through May 27 shows bookings of the Chicago market (home to the Democratic National Convention on August 19-22), were as high as 36% on August 22, while bookings in Chicago’s CBD were as high as 50%.
A story in the Chicago Sun-Times said, according to its research, the projected ADR for the days of the DNC was $534.88. That was higher than the average ADR for the Lollapalooza music festival on August 1-4 ($485.24) and NASCAR’s street race weekend on July 6-7 ($278.29).
STR said it doesn’t currently have occupancy numbers for Milwaukee (home to the Republican National Convention on July 15-18) but expects the market to fall in line with past conventions numbers-wise.
In the past, occupancy gains ranged from significant (Charlotte,
up 34% in 2012) to more modest (Boston, up 8% in 2004). The conventions in 2020
saw declines because of last-minute COVID restrictions.
Other observations from the study:
- Tampa’s 2012 Republican National Convention (RNC) had
81% occupancy, which was lower than expected because of the potential landfall
of Hurricane Isaac (which ultimately hit Louisiana instead).
- Most conventions saw occupancy-based compression in each
market, with hotels increasing pricing on last-minute bookings due to the lack
of available rooms.
- The study showed that market size matters. Large markets
like New York City and Los Angeles could absorb larger demand spikes and didn’t
produce as large of ADR gains as smaller markets.
- Conventions held during the week of Labor Day
(Minneapolis in 2008 and Charlotte in 2012) had a larger impact on indexed
gains above normal because that holiday week is normally slower for hotels.
Philadelphia’s 2016 DNC convention had the highest
combined ADR of $361 once adjusted for inflation, followed by New York City in
2004 ($342) and Cleveland in 2016 ($335).
Four markets saw room rates double over their seasonal
expectation for the event period, with Charlotte in 2012 rising 1.5 times above
normal.
The study found that most markets saw consistent
occupancy and ADR gains on the days before the convention through the final
night of speeches.