HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee—Canada’s hotel industry reported its highest performance since September 2022, according to STR’s May 2023 data.

May 2023 (year-over-year percentage change)

Occupancy: 69.2% (+9.3%)

Average daily rate (ADR): CAD197.10 (+15.0%)

Revenue per available room (RevPAR): CAD136.32 (+25.7%)

“Canada’s hotel room demand exceeded the pre-pandemic comparable for the seventh consecutive month,” said Laura Baxter, CoStar Group’s director of hospitality analytics for Canada. CoStar Group is the parent company of STR.

“To put the country’s 3% demand growth from 2019 into perspective, the metric was up just 1% in the U.K. and down 2% in the U.S. With such robust demand, room rates approached nearly $200, up 18% over 2019. The growth rate compared to 2019 has been similar over the last three months, suggesting that the rate index may have plateaued. Major urban locations are still benefitting from rebounding demand and ADR growth, and in some cases, constrained supply. There is also no sign of weakness in the transient leisure segment at a national level, as the demand index hit a post-pandemic high at 113, while weekend occupancy, which can be used as a proxy for leisure demand, was also ahead of last month at 106.

“May weekday occupancy is a good litmus test of corporate hotel demand, as it is a popular month for corporate travel in Canada with very few religious holidays and only one statutory holiday. The segment performed well with the metric rising to 100% of 2019 levels, or up 11.9% year over year. The weekday rate index also remained elevated, up 15%.”

Among the provinces and territories, Newfoundland and Labrador recorded the highest May occupancy level (79.9%), which was up 46.0% year over year.

Among the major markets, Vancouver reported the highest occupancy level (83.0%), which was 8.5% above May 2022.

Prince Edward Island (+15.1% to 59.1%) and New Brunswick (+7.9% to 59.1%) matched for the lowest occupancy among provinces. At the market level, the lowest occupancy was reported in Edmonton (60.9%), which was 10.2% above the 2022 comparable.

“STR and Tourism Economics launched an updated forecast in June and the new version remains similar to the last, projecting full-year occupancy to return to 2019 levels this year,” said Baxter. “What has changed is that inflation-adjusted ADR and RevPAR are also expected to reach pre-pandemic levels in 2023, which is earlier than anticipated in the previous version.”

TORONTO, ON, June 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Days Inns - Canada, one of the country's leading hotel chains, today announced a meaningful donation to Food Banks Canada in aid of their impactful Food For All initiative. The contribution will play a vital role in restocking food banks, facilitating the distribution of large-scale donations, and swiftly sharing perishable items across Food Banks Canada's extensive countrywide network.

"Between record-high need, rising food costs, and declining donations, it's becoming harder and harder for food banks to keep up," said Erin Filey-Wronecki, Chief Development and Partnership Officer, Food Banks Canada. Thanks to the generosity of partners like Days Inns - Canada, we can focus on ensuring our coast-to-coast-to-coast network of over 4,750 food banks and community agencies can serve Canadians in need by providing fresh, nourishing food."

All Days Inn locations across Canada are participating in the "Feed Summer" campaign from now until August 31, 2023. This campaign aims to benefit local food banks by encouraging guests and hotel teams to make monetary donations by scanning a unique QR code, volunteering or dropping off contributions at their nearest food bank, ultimately helping provide nutritious food to families in need.

"Last year, food bank use rose to the highest levels in Canadian history, accentuating the urgent need to address food insecurity. As a Canadian company, supporting local communities is paramount to us," said Irwin Prince, President and COO of Days Inns - Canada. "We recognize the immense demand for food banks, and we are very proud to be able to partner with Food Banks Canada."

Days Inns - Canada and its independent franchisees remain committed to serving their guests, employees and the communities in which they operate by engaging in programs and initiatives that assist Canadians in need.

Visit the Days Inn "Feed Summer" page on the Food Banks Canada website for more information on how to contribute to this important cause.

ATIKAMEKSHNEG ANISHNAWBEK TERRITORY (Sudbury, ON) – June 19, 2023 – Travel Media Association of Canada (TMAC) and the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC) have agreed to finalize their partnership through a signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) effective June 21, 2023, which is National Indigenous Peoples Day.

The primary goal of this MOU is to educate and train Canadian travel media to showcase and promote diverse Indigenous experiences in Canada. This includes sharing story ideas with TMAC members and incorporating Indigenous elements into TMAC's annual conference. Members will be educated on Indigenous style and storytelling and given opportunities to share Indigenous-led stories. Support will also be provided in verifying authenticity and provide workshops to enhance indigenous-led businesses' ability to engage and leverage travel media.

ITAC will also further educate travel media on the importance of authenticity and Indigenous-owned tourism businesses as well as sharing all the amazing experiences accredited with The Original Original mark of excellence. This new ISO label created by the association is a mark set to assure visitors they are buying from an authentic Indigenous operator and that benefits are going back to Indigenous people.

“TMAC knows the importance of supporting Indigenous tourism and through this partnership we look forward to advancing the growth of Indigenous tourism in Canada,” says Tracy Ford, President of TMAC. “We’re committed to working together to promote and celebrate authentic Indigenous tourism and are excited about the economic opportunities and cultural understanding that this collaboration will bring.”

TMAC is a Canadian not-for-profit association serving industry and media travel professionals. They cultivate relationships that result in relevant connections, comprehensive opportunities, and successful outcomes. The organization strives for inclusivity, openness and forward-thinking in the everchanging travel industry environment.

“ITAC’s partnership with TMAC represents a significant milestone in the growth and development of Indigenous tourism in Canada. With this collaboration, we can look towards a future of hope and success where authentic Indigenous businesses and experiences are celebrated and shared across Canada,” says Keith Henry, President & CEO of ITAC. “As we continue to work together, we are confident that the Indigenous tourism industry will flourish, bringing economic opportunities and cultural understanding to communities from coast to coast to coast.”

As the tourism industry is ready to welcome the return of summer – and with it national and international visitors so critical to the Indigenous tourism economy in Canada – there is no better time than now to support the revitalization of Indigenous cultures by choosing The Original Original mark of excellence.

By Mark Lewis-Brown, CEO & President of Zucchetti North America

Although they would like to deny it, Gen Zs and Millennials do have one very important thing (for you!) in common: just like the Millennials before them, Gen Zs are highly motivated by travel and will spend as much of their disposable income on it as possible.

Don’t believe me?

Check out these stats from a recent article by Morning Consult:

"52% of Gen Z adults are frequent travelers, taking at least three leisure trips in the past year. That share is significantly larger than it is for higher-earning Gen Xs and Baby Boomers, and it’s on par with Millennials... As Gen Zs age and grow in spending power, they will likely outpace travel-happy Millennials."

This makes Gen Z travelers a hugely valuable demographic for today’s hotels, especially in a time when inflation is leading to skyrocketing prices and a looming recession can make other demographics feel uncertain about booking travel. If you set-up your hotel’s offerings and tech stack properly, these avid travelers could be your sweet spot (revenue-wise) for the coming months and years.

So, what is it that Gen Z travelers are really looking for and how can you give them more of what they want?

Literally… Just give them what they want

Even more than past generations, Gen Z are very motivated by customized, original, social media worthy experiences, much more than luxury or possessions, which is why travel ranks so highly on their favorites list. So, your role, as the savvy hotelier that you are, is to create reasons for Gen Z travelers to choose your property over other ones by creating packages or on-site offerings that they just can’t say no to, like The Jupiter Hotel in Portland, Oregon does.

The Jupiter Hotel has done a fantastic job of creating a space in which Gen Zs will feel right at home, from the décor to the creative package offerings – think stays devoted to weed, sexy time, music/festivals, etc. – and the strategy has worked wonders for their bottom line:

“We’ve seen fantastic results since implementing our new Gen Z-friendly packages and experience-focused service offerings,” said Nick Pearson, General Manager at The Jupiter Hotel. “Gen Z, as hotel consumers, are really interested in what makes your property different and unique, but also really price conscious. Growing up with the internet, they are accustomed to total price transparency and will book wherever they find the best rate + experience combo. To capture this market and drive loyalty, parity becomes incredibly important, along with interesting experiential direct booking incentives.”

Another very important part of Gen Zs’ lives are their dog-babies and, as dog-babies, they often travel with their Gen Z parents. This is another HUGE opportunity for your hotel to attract Gen Z travelers and their beloved pets: dog-friendly stays. I don’t just mean the old school “yes, bring your dog and it will cost you $50” experience; I mean a real immersive experience that integrates the dog into their trip and offers extra perks for their furry best friends.

Pup welcome packages (treats, a ball, a list of dog parks nearby, etc.); an adorable dog bed that fits your room’s décor and begs for a social post; and dog-friendly activities, such as dog yoga and dog-friendly cafés and restaurants, etc., are all things that will make Gen Z’s dogs feel welcome and, in return, Gen Zs will love you right back!

And the best part… these specialized packages are only available through the direct channel, giving potential guests a VERY good reason to click away from the OTAs and book directly for these extra perks and packages. Win/win/win!

But to make all these package options and perks available, your operational technology needs to be able to support this type of customization, which brings us to…

Booking engine basics

Of course, your booking engine is the way that you make all this customization possible; a legacy solution just doesn’t have the flexibility and the back-end customization necessary to make all these Gen Z-friendly options possible. You need a sophisticated booking engine with the ability to create customized packages, multiple room types and add-on optional upgrades, while also creating a very user-friendly booking experience (Gen Z travelers won’t wait for slow-loading pages or go through an endless checkout process).

Part of giving potential guests the best booking experience is showing them that they are getting the best deal for their room; that’s why your booking engine should also offer an OTA rate comparison tool, which shows the current rates offered for your rooms on the top OTAs to show the potential guest that they are making the right choice in booking, directly, with you.

Finally, we mentioned earlier how social media is an important part of how Gen Z travelers research and plan their trips, so you should be linking directly to your booking engine from your social media posts, making it easy to inspire lookers to become bookers, with a single click.