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June 2018 was the U.S. hotel industry’s 100th consecutive month of growth in revenue per available room (RevPAR), according to data from STR. 

The 100-month streak is still one year shy of the longest overall expansion cycle in industry history, which lasted 112 months from December 1991 through March 2001. However, since RevPAR decreased 0.4% in August 1998, the industry’s current run of 100 straight months of positive RevPAR comparisons is the longest.

The country’s last month with a decrease in the key hotel industry performance metric came in February 2010 (RevPAR: -3.8%).

“As the country came out of the recession, the industry as a whole was in a great position with improved economic conditions, accelerated spending in both the leisure and business travel sectors, and a negligible increase in room inventory,” said Amanda Hite, STR’s president and CEO. “In fact, that lack of significant supply growth coupled with consistently high demand has enabled hoteliers to continue to push occupancy and room rates beyond peak levels. The story is not the same for all markets, where certain regional economic conditions and supply growth have been a performance hindrance, but overall, the U.S. hotel industry is as healthy as it’s ever been. Barring unforeseen circumstances, we expect growth to continue.”

STR’s latest forecast calls for RevPAR growth of 2.9% for 2018 and 2.4% for 2019.

In between the industry’s current stretch of RevPAR growth and the 112-month growth cycle of the 1990s, the longest run of RevPAR increases was 56 months from July 2003 through February 2008.

Each of the key performance metrics are at all-time highs on a 12-month moving average basis: occupancy (66.2%), average daily rate (US$128.27), RevPAR (US$84.98). In June 2018, STR data showed 55,689 hotels and 5,250,635 hotel rooms in the U.S.