The rate growth mystery: A comparison of 1996 and 2015 | hotelnewsnow.com

Both 1996 and 2015 were times of high occupancy levels in the U.S. hotel industry, yet average rates grew faster in 1996. It begs the question: At record occupancy levels, what should average rate growth be? The U.S. hotel industry hit the elusive 65% occupancy mark in April 2015, and the closest it had ever come before was back in the expansion period of the mid-1990s.