HENDERSONVILLE, TENNESSEE - The U.S. hotel industry reported mixed results in the three key performance metrics during July 2016, according to data from STR.
Compared with July 2015, the U.S. hotel industry’s occupancy decreased 1.0% to 74.4%. However, average daily rate for the month was up 3.6% to US$128.77, and revenue per available room grew 2.5% to US$95.81.
“July supply growth crept up 1.6%, and demand growth slowed to an anemic 0.6%—basically no growth at all,” said Jan Freitag, STR’s senior VP for lodging insights. “Math then dictates that occupancy has to decline by 1%, but luckily, there was a bit of pricing power (ADR +3.6%). This month’s occupancy decline is the sharpest this year, but the ADR growth is the highest (tied with February and June).”
Freitag also noted that U.S. RevPAR has grown in year-over-year comparisons for 77 consecutive months, and July demand was the highest for any month on record at more than 117 million roomnights sold.
Among the Top 25 Markets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-New Jersey, posted the largest year-over-year increases in each of the three metrics. Occupancy in the market rose 6.2% to 78.6%; ADR was up 30.5% to US$158.53; and RevPAR increased 38.6% to US$124.57. Philadelphia hosted the Democratic National Convention on 25-28 July.
Other top RevPAR percentage changes were reported in Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida (+9.8% to US$83.93); Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Virginia (+8.3% to US$105.39); and Los Angeles/Long Beach, California (+7.1% to US$163.29).
Houston, Texas, reported the steepest declines across the three key performance metrics. Occupancy in the market fell 12.8% to 61.2%; ADR was down 8.8% to US$95.71; and RevPAR dropped 20.5% to US$58.60.
New Orleans, Louisiana, reported the next largest year-over-year decrease in RevPAR (-6.6% to US$85.40).
Outside of Philadelphia and Houston, no other Top 25 Market reported a double-digit increase or decrease in the metrics.
“The Top 25 Markets are seeing the majority of new supply (+2.1%), so that is where a demand growth slowdown will hit first,” Freitag said. “Occupancy declined 1.5% in the top markets, and ADR grew only 2.6%. In fact, 15 of the Top 25 Markets registered an occupancy decline. Nowhere was it worse than in Houston where demand dropped 7.9%, and supply increased 5.6%.”
