A slowdown in hotel construction would contribute to "robust
room rate growth" in the United States during 2011, PricewaterhouseCoopers
said on Monday.
In its quarterly U.S. lodging forecast, the firm said that
U.S. supply growth would be just 2 percent this year and an even lower 0.4
percent in 2011. While the U.S. hotel industry had 133,000 rooms started in
2008, that number fell to 47,000 in 2009 and was down to an annualized 32,000
rooms by the second quarter of 2010, according to PwC.
Meanwhile, the firm expects hotel demand growth to continue
throughout the rest of this year, fueled in part by a recovery in business
travel, based on recent corporate earnings reports that have indicated more
willingness to travel, the firm said. PwC projects occupancy will rise by 4.6
percent this year to 57.2 percent and reach 58.6 percent in 2011, still below
the 59.9 percent occupancy levels seen in 2008, however.
While the firm echoed Colliers PKF Hospitality Research's recent projection of a 0.6 percent decline in average daily rates this year compared
with 2009, PwC is forecasting rates will grow by 4.1 percent in 2011, higher
than PKF's projection of 3.8 percent.
"Based on current macroeconomic conditions and the
lodging industry's performance during the first half of the year,
PricewaterhouseCoopers continues to believe that the industry will continue to
experience a modest recovery for the balance of this year into 2011," PwC
principal and U.S. hospitality and leisure leader Scott Berman said in a
statement.