The U.S. hotel industry reported positive results in the three key performance metrics during December 2018, according to data from STR.
In a year-over-year comparison with December 2017, the industry posted the following:
- Occupancy: +0.1% to 54.1%
- Average daily rate (ADR): +1.8% to US$124.28
- Revenue per available room (RevPAR): +1.9% to US$67.20
“The industry continued its record-breaking demand run and sold more rooms than any other December on record, but the growth in number of rooms available is now basically in equilibrium with demand growth,” said Jan Freitag, STR’s senior VP of lodging insights. “This trend will likely continue, and will likely lead to occupancy declines going forward. This can already be seen in class performance where the Upper Upscale, Upscale and Upper Midscale segments recorded a negative year-over-year occupancy comparison. The same was true in the Top 25 Markets where occupancy in aggregate declined 1.8% and in 16 markets individually.”
Among those Top 25 Markets, San Diego, California, reported the highest jump in RevPAR (+18.9% to US$96.17), which was primarily due to the largest increase in ADR (+13.2% to US$143.56). The market saw the month’s second-largest lift in occupancy (+5.0% to 67.0%).
Boston, Massachusetts, experienced the largest rise in occupancy (+5.5% to 58.4%) and the only other double-digit increase in RevPAR (+11.3% to US$89.20).
Overall, 14 of the Top 25 Markets saw RevPAR growth.
Due to comparison with the post-Hurricane Harvey demand period of 2017, Houston, Texas, saw the only double-digit decrease in occupancy (-14.5% to 51.9%) and the steepest decline in RevPAR (-19.2% to US$49.17). The market posted the second-largest drop in ADR (-5.5% to US$94.81).
Atlanta, Georgia, reported the largest drop in ADR (-9.1% to US$97.22), which resulted in the only other double-digit decrease in RevPAR (-13.7% to US$56.44).
New Orleans, Louisiana, registered the third-largest decline in RevPAR (-7.8% to US$82.95).
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