The average daily rate at U.S. hotels in March increased 4.9 percent year over year to $120.38,

according to STR. Occupancy increased 2.3 percent to 66.8 percent, the highest recorded March occupancy rate, STR senior vice president of strategic development Jan Freitag said. In the San Francisco/San Mateo area, ADR increased 13.4 percent year over year to $210.40, the largest percentage increase among the nation’s top 25 markets. New Orleans reported the largest ADR decrease among those markets, with a drop of 5.2 percent to $159.90.