STR reports preliminary U.S. hotel performance for September 2008

HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee | Smith Travel Research (STR) – the global leader in lodging industry performance tracking and benchmarking – announced preliminary September 2008 figures for the U.S. lodging industry and STR chain scale segments today.

STR projects the industry's overall year-over-year occupancy rate for September to be down between 5 percent to 7 percent from September 2007. It projects revenue per available room to be down between 2 percent to 4 percent. In the individual chain scales, STR projects:

• The luxury segment's year-over-year occupancy to fall between 4 percent and 6 percent, and its RevPAR to drop between 3 percent and 5 percent.
  
  
• The upper upscale segment's occupancy to drop between 3 percent and 5 percent, and its RevPAR to decline between 1 percent and 3 percent.
  
  
• The upscale segment's occupancy to fall between 2 percent and 4 percent, and its RevPAR to come in between flat (0) and down 2 percent.
  
  
• The midscale with food-and-beverage segment's occupancy to drop between 6 percent and 8 percent, and its RevPAR to be off between 4 percent and 6 percent.
  
  
• The midscale-without-F&B segment's occupancy to decline between 5 percent and 7 percent, and its RevPAR to drop between 1 percent and 3 percent.
  
  
• The economy segment's occupancy to drop between 5 percent and 7 percent, and its RevPAR to fall between 4 percent and 6 percent.

Preliminary U.S. industry performance statistics are produced from STR’s DaySTAR program. DaySTAR tracks daily occupancy, average room rate and revenue per available room reported from hotels accounting for about 2.8 million U.S. hotel rooms. IMPORTANT NOTES: Preliminary U.S. performance statistics reported in this email are subject to revision resulting from data reconciliation by DaySTAR participants and additional monthly STAR reporting received from STR clients that do not currently participate in DaySTAR. Preliminary September 2008 performance changes are measured against September 2007. RevPAR means Revenue per Available Room. F&B means Food and Beverage.

About STR & STR Global: For more than 20 years, Smith Travel Research has been the recognized leader for lodging industry benchmarking and research. Smith Travel Research and STR Global offer monthly, weekly, and daily STAR benchmarking reports to more than 36,000 hotel clients, representing nearly 5 million rooms worldwide. STR is headquartered in Hendersonville, Tenn., and STR Global is based in London. For more information, visit or .