CBRE Hotels Research in a midyear update has increased its full-year 2026 projections for U.S. hotel revenue per available room growth to 2.5 percent year over year, up from 1.2 percent at the start of the year, the company announced.
CBRE said the revision was largely driven by a "meaningful recovery" in business transient and group travel. Convention-linked RevPAR grew 5.4 percent year over year by April. Excluding World Cup effects, CBRE expects business transient and group travel to contribute to more than half of 2026 U.S. RevPAR growth.
The firm said the markets positioned to benefit most from business travel and group recovery are technology hubs, such as the San Francisco Bay Area, and AI data center construction markets, including Memphis, Houston and St. Louis. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts reported gains in domestic RevPAR in recent quarters owing to data center project work.
CoStar and Tourism Economics also improved their full-year 2026 U.S. hotel outlook earlier this month, more than doubling their RevPAR projections from the start of the year. CBRE forecasts occupancy will rise to 62.8 percent in 2026 and 63 percent in 2027, with average daily rate growth of 1.7 percent in each year.
Despite reports of strength across chain scales during the second quarter by some hoteliers, CBRE expects full-year 2026 RevPAR growth at luxury properties to hit 5.2 percent, significantly outpacing midscale (up 0.7 percent) and economy, which is forecast to decline 0.6 percent.