Bad Bunny’s residency impact on Puerto Rico’s hotels

Analysis by Hannah Smith

The NFL’s announcement of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show comes off the tail end of the performer’s 31-show residency in Puerto Rico, which has been estimated to have brought as much as $200 million dollars into the local economy with a carryover boost for local hotels.

The residency, located at José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in San Juan, ran every Friday-Sunday from 11 July through 14 September. The first nine shows were only open to island residents, with an additional locals-only show added on 20 September. The residents-only leg predictably brought a smaller performance lift to hotels, with revenue per available room (RevPAR) flat to down across most locals-only show dates. 

General public shows brought much greater growth to the island’s hotel performance, peaking on the last weekend of shows, which saw a 74.7% lift in RevPAR on 14 September.

For the most part, occupancy was a greater driver of performance than average daily rate (ADR). On locals-only show dates, occupancy grew 3.3% across the island and 4.1% in San Juan. ADR was flat to down year over year (YoY) for many of the locals-only shows, with flat RevPAR in the San Juan submarket and overall Puerto Rico market.

The 21 shows open to the general public brought a significant increase in each of the three key performance metrics, with show days achieving a 24% YoY increase in occupancy. The residency came during a typically lower period for the Puerto Rico market, with late summer into fall coinciding with the hurricane season and the lowest demand period for the island. ADR was also lifted, with nearly 20% growth in San Juan and a 12.5% increase across the island.

Most of the demand for the concert came to the San Juan submarket. Within that region, higher-end hotels saw a greater lift, with all of the locals-only occupancy growth coming from Upper Upscale and Luxury properties. This trend carried over to the general-public shows, with 35% YoY growth in occupancy. ADR increases were more comparable across hotel classes, between 17-18%.

The Bad Bunny residency didn’t just bring travelers on the weekend show days; the rest of the week grew as well. Between 1 August and 20 September, non-show day occupancy grew 6.7%, while ADR remained flat over last year. For the total residency period, hotels saw a lift of 69,010 room nights and $16.5 million from a baseline modeled on year-to-date, day-of-week growth rates.

Looking ahead, Super Bowl hotel demand is typically not dictated by the halftime performer. However, with it looking unlikely that Bad Bunny will tour in the U.S. in the near future, there is sure to be a lot of attention on the performance.