January 2021 saw noticeable improvement in performance compared to December 2020 for demand, occupancy, and by extension RevPAR for Anchorage hotels. While these are all encouraging signs in the wake of unprecedented damage to travel done by COVID-19 in 2020, they are still unfavorable year over year comparisons. The improvement in performance doesn't appear to coincide with a significant change in year-over-year airport traffic. However, daily data suggests the best individual days for demand in January tended to be Friday through Monday, hinting at leisure travel rather than changes to business travel. This trend is present in behavior in national averages for hotel performance as well. It's also possible that government-purchased rooms are contributing a larger than average portion of occupancy. Rooms purchased by local, state, or federal government entities typically do not pay bed tax.
Not familiar with these terms? There's a guide to hotel performance.
