The average daily rate at U.S. hotels increased 4.1 percent year over year to $115.28 in March,

according to STR. March U.S. hotel occupancy increased 2.9 percent to 65.3 percent. STR senior vice president of strategic development Jan Freitag noted that the growth was "the highest we have recorded so far in 2014," although he also added that it was skewed by Easter and Passover occurring in April this year, as meeting planners often avoid scheduling events around that time. Five cities had double-digit ADR growth in March: Denver (up 15.7 percent to $109), New Orleans (up 14.8 percent to $169.04), Nashville (up 14.7 percent to $117.15), San Francisco (up 11 percent to $185.59) and Houston (up 10.4 percent to $108.29). In New York, ADR declined 5 percent to $222.02, the largest decrease among the top 25 markets.