U.S. hotel ADR crept up 0.8 percent year over year to $124.39, the lowest ADR increase since July 2010, according to STR. Occupancy inched up 0.7 percent to 54.8 percent, and revenue per available room increased 1.5 percent to $68.13.
ADR and RevPAR increased by double digits in San Francisco/San Mateo, ADR by 12.6 percent to $302.68 and RevPAR by 12 percent to $220.88, as Santa Clara hosted the College Football Playoff National Championship and the Moscone Center reopened in San Francisco. In Phoenix, occupancy rose 5.2 percent to 73.6 percent and RevPAR jumped 10.6 percent to $111.07.
Among the 25 markets with the most supply, the biggest year-over-year occupancy and RevPAR drops came in Houston. Occupancy fell 13 percent to 55.6 percent, while RevPAR plummeted 17.2 percent to $56.65. Houston's year-over-year comparisons continue to suffer from the demand surge that followed summer 2017's Hurricane Harvey. Stagnant oil prices and slow supply growth also are impacting Houston. Minneapolis/St. Paul saw big year-over-year drops thanks to pre-Super Bowl events in January 2018. RevPAR sank 17.2 percent to $54.13 in January 2019, and ADR fell 10.2 percent to $105.26.
STR SVP of lodging insights Jan Freitag said last month's numbers also fell because New Year's Day was not part of a three-day weekend in 2019, as it was in 2018. The federal government shutdown also dragged on government contractor and group travel.
"Our projections for the year remain the same: good, not great, performance thanks in large part to tepid ADR growth, he said.