The U.S. hotel occupancy rate in December posted a solid increase from 2023 levels, as did the average daily rate and revenue per available room, according to hotel analytics firm STR.
Occupancy in December increased 1.1 percent year over year to 53.2 percent, while ADR increased 3.3 percent to $156.67 and RevPAR rose 4.4 percent to $83.30, according to STR.
STR separately in December noted surprisingly strong year-over-year growth in the first two weeks of the month, particularly in group travel. Business transient demand also picked up in that timeframe, according to STR, with ADR for that segment up by more than 5 percent in the beginning of the month.
STR again said its top 25 markets "showed higher occupancy and ADR than all other markets," which it noted throughout 2024.
As it has in each month since July 2024, New York City registered the highest occupancy rate among STR's top 25 U.S. cities at 87.9 percent, up 1.4 percent year over year. Minneapolis for the second straight month logged the lowest occupancy rate among those cities at 46.1 percent, followed by Detroit at 47.5 percent.
Full-Year 2024 Metrics
U.S. ADR and RevPAR for full-year 2024 reached "record highs," according to STR, but the year-over-year growth rate for those metrics as well as the occupancy was the lowest since Covid-19 shut business travel down in 2020.
Full-year ADR increased 1.7 percent to $158.67, while RevPAR rose 1.8 percent to $99.94 and occupancy held steady at 63 percent. The figures were a touch better than STR projected in its most recent forecast, boosted by the strong December.
New York posted the highest full-year occupancy rate among STR's top 25 U.S. cities at 84.3 percent, up 3.3 percent from 2023, while St. Louis registered the lowest at 58.1 percent, followed by Minneapolis at 58.7 percent and Detroit at 59.1 percent.
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