Super Bowl 50 Drives San Francisco, San Jose Hotel Rates to Record Highs

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According to STR, Inc., Super Bowl 50 weekend hotel rates in San Francisco and San Jose, California, were the highest of any of the past six Super Bowl host markets.
 
The San Francisco market includes areas to the south and the north of the city, while the San Jose market includes Palo Alto, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and Santa Cruz.
 
Combined, absolute average daily rate for 5-7 February reached US$402.60 in the two markets. The next closest ADR for a Super Bowl host market from the previous five years was New Orleans, Louisiana, in 2013 (US$393.04).
 
During the same three days for the San Francisco/San Jose combined markets, occupancy was reported at 77.1% for Super Bowl 50. That absolute level was the second lowest among the past six Super Bowl host markets, ahead of only New York/New Jersey (70.6%), which hosted the event in 2014.
 
"For a Super Bowl, San Francisco is a geographically broad location that usually runs at high occupancy levels," said Carter Wilson, director of STR Analytics. "So much like New York City in 2014, the impact from the event was likely to be lessened. Rate gains were impressive, especially in the city of San Francisco, but for the broader markets, the impact from the two weeks of Super Bowl activity was below the average of the last five host markets."
 
Overall, Super Bowl weekend revenue per available room for San Francisco and San Jose was 233.9% higher in year-over-year comparisons. For the two weeks leading up to and including the event, RevPAR increased 34.3%. Of the past six Super Bowl host markets, only New York/New Jersey in 2014 saw less RevPAR impact (+24.2%) for the two weeks of Super Bowl activity.
 
"Breaking it down further, the highest RevPAR figures were recorded in the city of San Francisco, rather than 40 miles south where the game was actually played," Wilson said. "There was more interest in being near where all of the ancillary events were being held than being proximate to the stadium itself.
 
"During the same two weeks in 2015, San Francisco and San Jose were fairly busy with occupancy at 74.5%," Wilson said. "That makes gains tougher to come by, but it is interesting that the combined markets reported rates roughly 34% higher with almost no growth in occupancy."