STR: U.S. hotel performance for August 2018

The U.S. hotel industry reported positive results in the three key performance metrics during August 2018, according to data from STR.

In a year-over-year comparison with August 2017, the industry posted the following:

• Occupancy: +1.2% to 71.4%
• Average daily rate (ADR): +2.3% to US$130.71
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): +3.5% to US$93.37

"The industry once again set a monthly demand record and achieved its highest August occupancy level since 2014," said Jan Freitag, STR's senior VP of lodging insights. "Those numbers indicate a strong finish to the summer with a decent mix from both the leisure and business sectors. ADR growth was up a bit from July but still below the long-term average. Pricing power remains a key topic around the industry as inflation-adjusted ADR has been mostly flat."

U.S. hotels have now posted 102 consecutive months of year-over-year RevPAR growth. STR's latest forecast calls for continued growth in the metric through 2019.

New Orleans, Louisiana, reported the only double-digit increase in occupancy (+12.7% to 60.2%) and the largest jump in RevPAR (+15.8% to US$66.49).

Chicago, Illinois, posted the highest lift in ADR (+6.6% to US$152.98).

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-New Jersey, experienced the second-largest rise in occupancy (+5.4% to 75.5%) and the third-largest increase in RevPAR (+9.4% to US$95.78).

Overall, 24 of the Top 25 Markets reported RevPAR growth.

Dallas, Texas, registered the only decline in RevPAR (-3.4% to US$66.11), due to the largest drop in occupancy (-5.6% to 64.9%).

Miami/Hialeah, Florida, saw the second-steepest decrease in occupancy (-2.8% to 73.1%).

None of the Top 25 Markets reported a decline in ADR.

"RevPAR growth in the major markets was 4%, well above the 3% growth rate seen in all other markets," Freitag noted. "Even with supply growth significantly higher in the Top 25 Markets, high demand drove occupancy levels and gave hoteliers the confidence to push their rates a bit. Several markets saw weekly comparisons fall around the days that matched with last year's Great American Eclipse, but overall there weren't too many performance fluctuations. That will change with September numbers due to the hurricane situations of this year and last."