The economy has started to bounce back which is great news for many operations who were uncertain when we might turn the corner. While the U.S. stock market has nearly gained all of its losses on the three major indexes, the hospitality industry still has a long road to recovery given how hard it's been hit. Check out some of the key performance indicators below that give an idea of where the industry is heading.
Market Performance for Publicly Traded Companies
Unemployment
BREAKING: U.S. economy added 2.5M jobs in May, unemployment rate now at 13.3%https://t.co/nZ5o5tsF87 pic.twitter.com/PD083MPnbw
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) June 5, 2020
The jobs report last week surprised many when the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that 2.5 million jobs had been gained for the month of May. Instead of approaching unemployment that some predicted closer to 20%, the rate decreased to 13.3%. Of those increases, the leisure and hospitality sector was responsible for 1.2 million of those jobs. There is still a long way to go considering 7.5 million and 743,000 jobs were lost in April and March, respectively. Food services and drinking places' employment rose 1.4 million as restaurants and bars across the country reopened, clawing back about 25% of total lost jobs in the two prior months of 6.1 million.
Hotel Occupancy
Thomas Emanuel, Director of @STR_Data, takes a deeper look into #hotel performance in Scotland. pic.twitter.com/mCGHwAN3Dq
— CoStar UK (@CoStarUK) June 4, 2020
Another promising sign that goes in line with more travel is an increase in hotel occupancy. Major hotel brands are seeing demand grow and the U.S. occupancy rate was 36.6% at the end of May, up nearly 50% compared to six weeks ago. According to STR, six of the top 25 markets passed the 40% mark including New York which had its best week since mid-March. Revenue per available room was reportedly up to $30.34, just over one-third what it was predicted to be for 2020 back in January.
Reservations
Germany and Australia offer an optimistic glimpse into the outlook for growth among advanced economies. Along with New Zealand, they stand at the vanguard of economies re-opening after painful lockdowns. #macroeconomics | https://t.co/eT4AFduCHR pic.twitter.com/5omgaqqQND
— BCA Research (@bcaresearch) June 3, 2020
Restaurant reservations are showing a rise as every state has now announced an opening date for on-premise dining last week. Germany returned to levels seen back in February on June 1st before slipping again and the U.S. has positives signs as more states open more areas and allow for increased capacity. Opentable Network has indicated the last week has seen 'seated diners from online, phone, and walk-in reservations' were down roughly 75% across the U.S. this past weekend compared to a year ago. This shows an improvement of over 10 points compared to the week prior. Looking at state by state data for June 7th, 2020 shows some states reservations were less than 50%- Oklahoma being the best only down 31%.
Airline Travel
Searches for travel in general have picked up, but consumers still showing hesitancy to fly, as air travel is lagging bus/rail, car rental/taxi, cruise, & hotel searches @DataArbor @GoogleTrends pic.twitter.com/Cz3pE9I2sk
— Liz Ann Sonders (@LizAnnSonders) June 3, 2020
Air Travel Continues to Recover. Yesterday's TSA Passenger Count (454,516) was the Highest Since March 22 and 4.5X Higher Than the Low of 87,534 on 4/14/. #GreenShoots pic.twitter.com/WdudKyGtcx
— Mark J. Perry (@Mark_J_Perry) June 5, 2020
The airline industry is reporting improved passenger counts as pent up demand is being served by lower travel prices as airlines look to refill planes. TSA latest report boasted their best numbers in two and a half months.