JACKSON, Wyo. — It was a quiet fall in Jackson Hole and a recent report corroborates that this off-season was even slower than usual.
Lodging data from the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce reported decreases in occupancy levels for both the months of September and October compared to those of 2021.
The Chamber reported a 9.5% decrease in occupancy from September 2021 (86.0%) to September 2022 (77.8%). Room Revenue this September vs September 2021 was $29,602,141 vs $29,366,797. Revenue reflects an 8.2% variance in the average room rate (ADR) from September 2021.
October saw an even larger decrease in occupancy. The Chamber reported a -27.1% variance from October 2021 (45.3%) to this year’s “on the books” of 33.0%.
Room Revenue “on the books” this October is projected at $7,456,741 vs October 2021 of $9,756,517. October 2021 finished with 54.4% Occupancies. Revenue reflects a .5% variance in the average room rate from October 2021.
Kent Elliott, director of destination global sales for Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce, attributed the decline in occupancy this fall to inflation, the strong dollar in Europe and reduced travel budgets.
“Historically speaking, the past six months in occupancies were -15.7 variance compared to FY20/21, perhaps a little inflated as that includes April and May,” said Elliot.
“With the strong dollar in Europe, many domestic travelers are taking advantage of travel to those areas, while others could be reducing their travel, or perhaps their travel budgets. Last month, with the exception of December, we were showing January and February slightly ahead of last year, now we are lagging… an indication that the negative variance for all future bookings was typically made for those winter months.”
Elliot said looking into the future, occupancies continue to decline compared to FY20/21 by -19.2%.
“With occupancies lagging from years past, there is the trickledown effect on Retail and Activity Vendors. As we all know, the past two years here in Jackson have been extremely busy than normal. The good news, when you compare our summer occupancies to FY2018/19, we as a community are only slightly behind.
