Preliminary November data indicates Phoenix will experience the highest level of monthly occupancy and average daily rate since February 2020. The sold-out NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway helped, as the market had the highest daily occupancy and rates seen this year over the event weekend.
This is unusual as peak seasonality for the Phoenix market historically occurs in the first quarter, when the weather is temperate and there are major sporting events such as the Cactus League — the MLB's spring training league based in greater Phoenix — and the Waste Management Phoenix Open golf tournament. However, both spring training and the golf tournament occurred at limited capacities this year, while there were no capacity restrictions for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship.
Phoenix continues to lead hotel recovery among the major markets in the western United States as the only market to exceed pre-pandemic revenue per available room levels, a key hospitality metric, for the past six months.
Hotel recovery is projected to continue into next year, and room night demand is projected to be 99% recovered when indexed to 2019. Increasing group demand, large events without capacity restrictions and many leisure visitors bode well for Phoenix hotel recovery. Potential headwinds for recovery include years of increased hotel supply, possible travel impact from the omicron variant and the MLB lockout that could affect spring training next year if not resolved.