As we reach the end of another year and the industry is rapidly growing to make 2022 a record-breaking year, let’s take a look back to celebrate how far we’ve come together and the victories we’ve had in 2021.
Occupancy Rates and ADR Normalizing
In the beginning of the year, we had occupancy rates of 37% and an ADR of $87.97 according to the STR report for the week of January 3-9. The STR report of the week ending 27 of November shows that we have now risen to an average occupancy of 53% with an ADR of $128.41, and that isn’t even the highest we’ve had this year. In July, we saw average occupancy over 70% with ADR over $140.
In addition to occupancy and ADR, we’re seeing the transaction, investment, and new construction numbers also continuing to rise. The hotel renovation and PIP schedule is a bit slower to return to normal, but with so many hotels and PIPs that have been deferred, we are seeing a lot of those start to come back in the pipeline. And there will be no shortage of renovations that start as soon as the new year hits.
Challenges We’ve Faced Together
The last two years have certainly been a challenging one for this industry, but we are showing our true strength and resilience as we creatively navigate around issues. Some of the biggest that we’ve faced this year and are continuing to face include staffing, freight costs and delays, and attempting to get the supply chain back in balance.
Even among those adversities, hospitality professionals are showing creative solutions and new innovations have risen from them. We’re seeing lots of manufacturing shifting to Mexico and the United States whenever possible, and even more solutions as our industry remains forever strong.
Hotel Openings Across the Country
Even as we’ve grown and continued to reach our recovery numbers, the team at Beyer Brown has been thrilled to work on many projects that completed and opened this year. Projects in over 10 states, and also one in Canada, ranging from select service all the way to upscale luxury and residences. Just a few of the projects include the Sable at Navy Pier in Chicago, the Kimpton Cottonwood in Omaha, the Kimpton Key West resorts, the Four Seasons Resort and Residences in Whistler, and the Hotel Effie Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort, just to name a few.
The Kimpton Cottonwood recently won two Gold Key Awards, and four MUSE Design awards, and we’re so proud to have been a part of the process of bringing this location to life.
Kimpton Cottonwood, Omaha, NE 
The Sable at Navy Pier, Chicago, IL 
Four Seasons Resort and Residences, Whistler, BC
Conferences and Handshakes
In 2020, we all shifted towards zoom calls and virtual meetings to continue to build relationships when in person meetings wasn’t possible. However, this year we have seen the return to conferences and trade shows.
One of the first major events in hospitality this year was the Hunter Conference. While the attendance was lower than usual, the conversation quality and relief of in person networking was higher than ever. The energy that the attendees brought back with them helped to spark and snowball greater confidence and excitement across the industry for further events. Among other events, our team attended Hunter, followed by a unique summer ALIS, HD Expo, Lodging Conference, and finally BDNY.
We have an article about what the experience at BDNY was like this year, but there was an energy among the attendees that was unmatched to previous years. So much enthusiasm, and excitement as colleagues and old industry friends met again for the first time in 18 months.
Beyer Brown in the Industry
We’ve had the opportunity this year to be featured in quite a few industry news, articles, and podcasts. We also had a focus on designers and interviewing a few to discuss their inspirations and connecting them to Where Hospitality Begins. Our own Mark Friesen was featured in a live No Vacancy Podcast earlier this year to discuss the supply chain. He also had two articles published in Lodging Magazine and was featured on Long Live Lodging podcast.
Anytime that we are able to interact further within this incredible industry we are so grateful to be working with so many talented groups of people. Whether that’s highlighting someone else’s skill and projects, or sharing our industry knowledge, we acknowledge how vastly talented everyone involved in the hospitality industry and hotel process truly is. Part of offering something and further services, we launched a project scheduling timeline worksheet to help you to time out your FF&E project, especially with the new lead time information.
Launching into 2022
All of this aside, we are looking forward with excitement at what 2022 will bring. Of course we acknowledge the successes of 2021 and how far we’ve come, but we truly see the industry launching forward and moving quickly to a record-breaking year. Just as you wouldn’t look back when you’re in a rocket, we have our eyes on the stars.
In that same STR report ending the week of November 27, the occupancy rates were 4.6% higher than the comparable week in 2019, and the ADR and RevPAR being 14.3% and 19.6% higher respectively. Certain markets are reaching record-breaking numbers already especially in transactions. None of the top 25 markets posted lower ADR decline than the 2019 comparable.
Thank you for joining us for an incredible year in 2021. We can’t wait to go into another year with this industry and see what else we can accomplish together.
