STR: U.S. hotel performance for February 2019

The U.S. hotel industry reported positive results in the three key performance metrics during February 2019, according to data from STR. 

In a year-over-year comparison with February 2018, the industry posted the following:

• Occupancy: +0.7% to 62.2%
• Average daily rate (ADR): +1.9% to US$128.94
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): +2.6% to US$80.15

“A sign of the times, a 2.6% increase in RevPAR was actually the highest for any month since October,” said Jan Freitag, STR’s senior VP of lodging insights. “Regardless, we once again set records across the key performance metrics as strong demand growth (+2.8%) outpaced our largest year-over-year increase in supply (+2.1%) since April 2010. Supply growth is certainly a factor in major markets, but the big concern nationally is on labor—both from a cost and talent acquisition standpoint. Rising costs in that department paired with a lack of meaningful ADR growth applies quite a bit of pressure on profitability.

“On the plus side, we continue to be surprised by the upside in Group ADR growth. A 4.5% lift in February was the highest Group ADR increase since April 2018.”

The industry has now posted year-over-year RevPAR growth for 107 of the past 108 months (nine years). The longest overall expansion cycle in industry history lasted 112 months from December 1991 through March 2001.

Among the Top 25 Markets, Super Bowl LIII host Atlanta, Georgia, reported the highest lift in ADR (+28.6% to US$139.86), which resulted in the largest increase in RevPAR (+33.1% to US$98.04).

San Francisco/San Mateo, California, experienced the highest rise in occupancy (+4.1% to 79.9%) and the only other double-digit increases in ADR (+23.4% to US$258.01) and RevPAR (+28.4% to US$206.24).

Denver, Colorado, saw the third-largest jump in RevPAR (+7.6% to US$79.79).

Overall, 13 of the Top 25 Markets saw RevPAR growth.

Last year’s Super Bowl host, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, saw the steepest drop in occupancy (-8.5% to 59.2%) as well as the only double-digit decreases in ADR (-30.9% to US$109.33) and RevPAR (-36.8% to US$64.71).

Houston, Texas, registered the second-largest declines in occupancy (-6.5% to 65.8%) and RevPAR (-8.8% to US$72.25).

New Orleans, Louisiana, saw the second-largest drop in ADR (-4.7% to US$163.77).