U.S. Hotel Industry’s RevPAR Increases 7.4% in April 2014

According to data compiled by STR, the U.S. hotel industry reported positive results in the three key performance metrics during April 2014.

Overall, the U.S. hotel industry’s occupancy was up 3.2% 65.7%, ADR rose 4.0% to US$114.67, and RevPAR increased 7.4% to US$75.30.

“April was a good month for hotels, as we saw the highest RevPAR growth (+7.4%) so far this year and the strongest in the last 12 months,” said Jan Freitag, senior VP of strategic development at STR. “In April 2013, RevPAR growth was also 7.4%, so this year’s growth was impressive against this tough comparable. ADR grew 4.0%, and has been above 3.0% each month since January 2011. We expect rate growth to continue unabated for the foreseeable future. Supply growth for the month increased 0.8%, same as during the last two months, which is a bit surprising as we have thought that supply growth would finally kick up given the strong growth in the under construction pipeline ... We fully expect that in the future months, supply will grow at a faster pace. Despite the Easter and Passover calendar shift, demand still grew 4.0%, which means the industry sold 3.7 million more rooms this April compared to April 2013.”

Among the Top 25 Markets, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida, rose 9.8% in occupancy to 75.3%, reporting the largest increase in that metric. San Diego, California, followed with an 8.7% increase in occupancy to 77.3%. Detroit, Michigan (-4.2% to 59.8%), and Oahu Island, Hawaii (-3.9% to 77.8%), posted the largest occupancy decreases in April.

Three markets reported double-digit ADR growth: Nashville, Tennessee (+16.1% to US$119.60); Miami/Hialeah, Florida (+13.6% to US$206.83); and Tampa/St. Petersburg (+11.1% to US$121.34).

Seven markets achieved RevPAR increases of more than 15%: Nashville (+23.5% to US$90.89); Tampa/St. Petersburg (+22.1% to US$91.39); Dallas, Texas (+17.8% to US$72.99); Orlando, Florida (+17.8% to US$89.63); Boston, Massachusetts (+17.4% to US$149.68); Denver, Colorado (+15.9% to US$82.96); and Miami/Hialeah (+15.8% to US$168.07).

Washington, D.C., reported the largest decreases in both ADR (-5.4% to US$155.22) and RevPAR (-3.6% to US$120.83).