SAVANNAH, Ga. - GeorgiaChron -- When thinking about how the pandemic has affected our day-to-day lives and the hit it's taken on businesses, we can unintentionally be a bit shortsighted - even struggling to see outside of our own city, state, or country. But Claxton has found that although COVID-19 decimated hotel performance worldwide, the level of recovery truly depends on the location.

Global Similarities and Variances
To begin, every region did implement some combination of travel bans, border closures, and lockdowns with duration, severity, and start dates varying widely. The Northern Hemisphere (excluding China) experienced some degree of summer occupancy recovery, which turned into a plateau and then later a setback, as seasons shifted and fall returned.

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Europe: Lockdown, Part II
As the summer travel season gave way to the fall business travel season, the weather cooled, as it always does, and the consequences of all those vacations started appearing in countries' COVID-19 case counts. So...the party stopped. More than 15 European countries entered a second lockdown.

Both occupancy and average daily rates are edging increasingly closer to their mid-April lows, but "lockdown-lite" in many areas does allow for business travel. Claxton predicts this could be helpful, but it would appear governments haven't gotten the memo considering a work-from-home lifestyle puts a real damper on business travel.

Middle East: Dubai in Demand
The Middle East can be divided into two categories of performance: Dubai and then everyone else. Just as expected, Dubai has taken the pandemic in stride. Examples include: loosened alcohol restrictions, no quarantine upon arrival, an increase in permissible gathering size, and, of course, fantastic winter weather.

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Asia Pacific: Domestic Divide
For most of the Asia Pacific region, the story of recovery depends on how much domestic demand a given country is capable of driving. Tourist-dependent countries such as Cambodia and Laos have struggled to get their occupancy off the ground. October occupancy failed to reach even 20 percent in either market.

Central & South America: Peru Peaks
Peru locked down in March, ahead of many North American and European countries but quickly reopened in June. Performance this year has been consistently strong due to government initiatives intended to relieve the troubled accommodations sector.

Takeaways
As we enter 2021, Claxton is hopeful and confident in global hotel performance for this first quarter and this entire year. With the implementation of COVID-19 vaccines and the continuation of mask mandates, Claxton predicts the onward and upward increase in occupancy as the year unfolds.