A Super, Super Bowl LVII in the Valley

This article provides a summary of the Super Bowl's effects on the Phoenix hotel market.
Zabada N. Abouelhana On February 12, Super Bowl LVII was held in Glendale’s State Farm Stadium with nearly 68,000 spectators. Attendance levels were just below the average for the last eight Super Bowls (excluding the COVID-19-affected year of 2021) and below the 2015 game’s 70,288 attendees, also in Phoenix. However, this year’s event did not disappoint the hotel industry in Greater Phoenix.

Prior to the weekend, STR forecasted Phoenix’s Super Bowl weekend performance: 94% occupancy levels at $445 average rates, equating to $419 revenue per available room (RevPAR)—the second-highest levels for a Super Bowl weekend in history.

WE WON! We exceeded RevPAR expectations for the weekend, falling below forecasted occupancy levels but far surpassing ADR forecasts. In the chart below, you can see the nightly occupancy and rate levels for the Phoenix market compared to 2015 performance.
 
Source: STR
 
We note that supply in the Phoenix market has increased by 11.7% since 2015, which greatly affected occupancy levels during this weekend. Furthermore, many hoteliers noted that a number of large groups and corporations that had booked large room blocks for the weekend canceled at the last minute. While hotels still collect some revenue from these cancellations, the rooms are not reflected in the occupancy levels for the weekend.

That didn’t stop our hoteliers from driving rates up, especially with the Super Bowl event taking place on the same weekend as the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Phoenix’s Super Bowl weekend registered the second-highest ADR and RevPAR levels in Super Bowl history, with Miami in 2020 leading at $559 ADR and $519 RevPAR.

Additionally, hotels benefited from revenue beyond hotel room bookings, including banquets, increased food and beverage sales, and other ancillary revenue sources, such as spas and meeting room rentals.

The city is already looking forward to its next Super Bowl host experience!

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Sources:
https://str.com/press-release/phoenix-forecasted-second-highest-hotel-revpar-super-bowl-history
https://www.statefarmstadium.com/
https://www.nfl.com/super-bowl/

About Zabada N. Abouelhana

Zabada N. Abouelhana
Zabada Abouelhana, a Director in the HVS Phoenix office, is an expert in the lodging markets of the Southwest region, particularly in Arizona and Nevada. During her time at HVS, Zabada has performed hundreds of hotel valuation and consulting projects across 24 states and five countries. She has experience in a wide range of hotel asset types, including limited-service hotels, full-service hotels, complex luxury resorts, historic properties, and mixed-use assets, in a variety of locations, such as rural, airport, suburban, downtown, and national park-adjacent markets. Zabada holds a certified general appraisal license. Contact Zabada at +1 (314) 280-2017 or [email protected].

3 Comments

  1. March 2, 2023

    Great article! I heard some crazy rates in the market, and people staying as far as Yuma! Glendale properties were also charging for parking to accommodate non-guests! $$$

  2. March 7, 2023

    It's all about the ADR with these big events, and it looks like this year was no exception! Very nice summary

  3. March 20, 2023

    Crazy market with both the Phoenix Open and the Super Bowl. I heard it was organized well with traffic and airport usage.

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This article provides a summary of the Super Bowl's effects on the Phoenix hotel market.
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Hotel Operations Travel & Tourism Economic Trends and Cycles Phoenix Arizona United States North America