Following up on STR’s initial Hurricane Ida analysis from 10 September, a vast majority of hotels in the New Orleans MSA have reopened with improving occupancy levels, especially in the core city center/central business district. This high volume of reopenings was to be expected because most closures were due to short-term power outages rather than property damage. Remaining short-term temporary closures are mostly concentrated in submarkets outside of the city.

In terms of Ida-related demand, data for 5-11 September indicated a smaller shift compared with the previous week. Occupancy moved downward in safe harbor markets in Alabama, Mississippi, etc., while occupancy ticked up in the New Orleans market. Historically, hurricane-related demand grows as displaced residents return to affected markets and hotels see added business from relief workers, insurance adjustors, etc.

Of course, movement in occupancy levels was partially due to the end of the Labor Day holiday, which also played a role in lifting occupancy for the previous week. Occupancy levels in New Orleans MSA have also been helped by a return to regular activity in the city over the last two weeks, which continued to be reflected in the latest data for 11-18 September.

Stay up to date on market-level performance in STR’s Weekly Market Recovery Monitor. Please do not hesitate to email [email protected] with any other questions or data-related needs.

About STR

STR provides premium data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights for the global hospitality industry. Founded in 1985, STR maintains a presence in 15 countries with a corporate North American headquarters in Hendersonville, Tennessee, an international headquarters in London, and an Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore. STR was acquired in October 2019 by CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGP), the leading provider of commercial real estate information, analytics and online marketplaces. For more information, please visit str.com and costargroup.com.