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Super Bowl LIX Triggers Accommodation Sellout in New Orleans – Image Credit Lighthouse
There’s no accommodation available in New Orleans as Super Bowl 59 approaches, making it one of the fastest selling football finales ever for US hoteliers.
As we write this with two weeks to go, the entire city is effectively out of inventory. On-the-books occupancy is at 98%, and 99% of hotels are listed as unavailable.
It’s no surprise that New Orleans, a city renowned for its lively atmosphere and vibrant celebrations, is a top destination for football fans ahead of Super Bowl LIX.
From the perspective of accommodation businesses, this event has been nothing short of a spectacular sellout.
However, what is most remarkable is how far in advance inventory was booked by football fans, underlining how important accurate data on market conditions is when it comes to maximizing revenue during major events.
A year in the making: New Orleans hotels snapped up 365 days out for Super Bowl LIX
Even a full year out from Super Bowl LIX average occupancy had already hit over 70% for the night of 8th February in the Big Easy.
From this point, it would only take another seven weeks for average occupancy across New Orleans to hit 95%, reaching this point with 318 days to go before the stay date.
Occupancy stays above 88% throughout the booking window. From 275 days out, the market shows effectively full capacity with occupancy above 94%. After 100 days out, available inventory drops to 2-3%, indicating a market sellout.
Have New Orleans hoteliers missed out on revenue when pricing their rooms?
This remarkable run of early booking represents huge forward demand that hoteliers should have capitalized on, but did they?
Our data indicates that forward pricing saw significant increases, with rates more than double the city’s typical average. However, it’s likely that hotels did not fully capitalize on an extended period of high pricing power
Hoteliers appear to have been caught out by such an exceptionally early development of demand along the booking curve.
Super Bowl weekend pricing hit two key peaks. First, rates exceeded $450 at 60-50 days out, reaching $548 per night at 55 days before the event. A second surge occurred 30 days out, peaking at $563 three weeks prior.
At 30 days out, average prices headed upward once more, topping out at $563 three weeks prior to the event.
These high prices are comparable to previous Super Bowls in Las Vegas and Phoenix and the increases are what you might expect during a major event that boosts hospitality demand.
The data reveals a clear missed revenue opportunity. Despite reaching 98% occupancy a year in advance, hotels kept rates between $350-400 during the early booking window.
With over a year remaining, there was already significant booking interest for the Super Bowl. Starting at least 320 days in advance, hotels could have potentially listed inventory at rates above $500 for February 8th, with even higher rates for the luxury segment. However, rates instead appear to have settled mostly in the $350–$400 range.
Forward-looking market data is the key to unlocking maximum room revenue around events
Accommodation providers who monitor market performance and occupancy rates can adopt more aggressive early strategies. Implementing length-of-stay restrictions and gradually releasing inventory during demand surges enables full revenue maximization.
This is why it is vital to have forward-looking marketing intelligence embedded into your revenue management set-up, but especially so when it comes to events on the scale of the super bowl, which can define your quarterly performance report.
Revenue success around major events requires advanced market intelligence and automated tools designed specifically for revenue managers. Check out our award-winning commercial platform.
About Lighthouse
Lighthouse (formerly OTA Insight) is the leading commercial platform for the travel & hospitality industry. We transform complexity into confidence by providing actionable market insights, business intelligence, and pricing tools that maximize revenue growth. We continually innovate to deliver the best platform for hospitality professionals to price more effectively, measure performance more efficiently, and understand the market in new ways.
Trusted by over 65,000 hotels in 185 countries, Lighthouse is the only solution that provides real-time hotel and short-term rental data in a single platform. We strive to deliver the best possible experience with unmatched customer service. We consider our clients as true partners – their success is our success.
