The U.S. hotel industry performed slightly better in August than it did in July as measured by its three key indicators, but the absolute levels still are low, according to STR.
Overall U.S. hotel occupancy in August was down 31.7 percent year over year to 48.6 percent, a slight improvement from July's 47 percent. Still, it was the lowest U.S. level recorded for any August, according to STR. In STR's latest weekly report, for the week ending Sept. 12, occupancy was 48.5 percent, down from 49 percent the week prior, which saw a lift because of the Labor Day weekend. For the week ending Sept. 12, demand was 1.6 percent less than the week prior, with 17.7 million room nights sold.
August's U.S. average daily rate dropped 22.8 percent year over year to $102.46, compared with $101.76 in July. Revenue per available room declined 47.3 percent to $49.83, up from July's average of $47.84.
Viewed by chain scale, luxury and upper upscale continue to struggle, with August occupancy at 24.2 percent and 29.9 percent, respectively. The economy tier fared the best with 57.1 percent occupancy, though upper midscale and midscale also were above 50 percent.
Among the 25 largest markets in the United States, Norfolk/Virginia Beach reported the highest occupancy level for August at 63 percent. Detroit, Los Angeles/Long Beach, Philadelphia and San Diego each were slightly above 50 percent. Oahu reported the lowest occupancy, at 26.8 percent, followed by Orlando at 28.7 percent. Oahu also had the steepest RevPAR decline, while San Francisco/San Mateo posted the largest drop in ADR.
RELATED: STR: U.S. Hotels' July Performance a Bit Better than June