Canadian hotels filled 80.9 percent of their rooms in August 2026, a rise of 0.2 percent over August 2025[1]. Room rates did most of the work: the country's hotels posted their eighth year-over-year gain in a row in both average daily rate (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPAR), based on CoStar's August figures[1].
The national picture
The average daily rate across Canada came in at CAD 267.48, up 6.7 percent[1]. RevPAR reached CAD 216.31, a gain of 6.9 percent[1]. With occupancy almost flat and rates climbing, the national growth came mainly from price, not from more rooms being sold.
For housekeeping, that difference matters. A higher rate does not add rooms to clean. Guests paying more may expect more from the room, but the workload on the floor tracks occupied rooms, stayovers and check-outs, and those are three different counts.
Where demand rose most
The regional picture was less even than the national one.
- Quebec: the province had the largest occupancy gain of any province or territory, up 3.2 percent to 83.7 percent[1].
- Montreal: among major markets, Montreal saw the biggest occupancy increase, up 6.4 percent to 85.6 percent[1]. The Osheaga Festival and Montreal Pride supported the result[1].
- Toronto: the city posted the largest ADR and RevPAR growth among major markets, with ADR up 10.0 percent to CAD 308.00 and RevPAR up 15.1 percent to CAD 278.10[1]. The Canadian National Exhibition and Fan Expo Canada both took place there in August[1].
- Nova Scotia: the province recorded the strongest ADR increase, up 9.0 percent to CAD 289.67[1].
What this means for your floor
Occupancy is a share of available rooms sold across a market. It does not tell you how many departures a single property had on a given day, how long guests stayed, or how many rooms needed a full check-out clean instead of a lighter stayover service. A citywide figure of 85.6 percent in Montreal can hide hotels that ran far above or below that level.
That is why these numbers are a benchmark, not a staffing plan. Use them to ask questions of your own data. If your property in Montreal or elsewhere in Quebec ran well below the market in August, check whether rooms were held back for maintenance or staffing reasons. If you ran above it, look at how many check-outs clustered around festival and event weekends, and whether overtime or agency hours rose in those weeks.
Event-driven peaks like the ones in Montreal and Toronto tend to produce heavy departure days. Cleaning contractors billing per room should confirm with each hotel how check-out and stayover rooms were counted in August before invoices and autumn contracts are settled.
ARPCLEAN take
What does this mean for housekeeping?
For cleaning contractors
- Check your counts: compare August check-out and stayover rooms per hotel with the regional occupancy trend before you quote autumn rates.
- Event weeks: review hours worked on festival and exhibition weekends in Montreal and Toronto and plan staff for similar dates.
For hotels
- Benchmark, not forecast: set your own occupied and check-out counts against the Quebec and Montreal figures instead of using market data to size your team.
- Budget review: with rates up and occupancy flat nationally, check whether housekeeping labor per occupied room changed, and discuss any contract changes with your advisor.
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About this story
ARPCLEAN Editorial
Archie Grey is the pen name of the ARPCLEAN editorial team for English-language news. This story was prepared with AI assistance, checked against the linked sources and approved by our editors before publication. Spotted a mistake? Write to [email protected].
No corrections since publication.
