PKF Hospitality Research projects U.S. hotel occupancy will reach 65 percent in 2015,

a record since STR began reporting occupancy data in 1987. The firm's president Mark Woodworth said as economic recovery spreads beyond the major coastal markets, many of the largest occupancy gains this year are occurring in such secondary markets as Memphis, Richmond and Raleigh-Durham. With U.S. hotel supply growth forecast at 1.3 percent next year, PKF projects the average daily rate at U.S. properties will increase 5.7 percent year over year in 2015.