STR: U.S. Hotel Industry Recovery Marches On

U.S. hotel industry metrics showed momentum with March spring break travel after January’s omicron setback.

Overall U.S. hotel occupancy for the month was 64 percent, compared with 56.9 percent in February. That was the highest monthly figure since July 2021, but still down 6.2 percent from the same period in 2019.

Average daily rate for March was $146.61, up from $137.39 in February and surpassing March 2019 by 10.9 percent. That’s the highest monthly ADR on record, according to STR, but the raw numbers don’t tell the full story. Adjusted for inflation, ADR falls to roughly 2 percent below the 2019 comparable, according to the research company.

Also the highest since July 2021, RevPAR for March was $93.82, up from $78.24 in February and 4 percent higher than March 2019.

The top 25 markets generally showed higher occupancy and ADR than other markets, but none saw occupancy exceed March 2019, according to STR.

Tampa recorded the highest March occupancy at 84.7 percent, down 3.6 percent from March 2019. Meanwhile, Chicago and Minneapolis had the lowest occupancy, at 50.1 percent and 54.5 percent, respectively.

San Francisco continued to languish with the steepest occupancy decline in STR’s top 25 markets, at 23.4 percent below March 2019. Even so, that is significantly better than San Francisco’s occupancy for the previous month, which STR pegged at 40.5 percent off the 2019 comparable. The research firm tied the March improvement, at least partially, to events including the Game Developers Conference and NCAA basketball.

Terri Hardin  www.businesstravelnews.com