U.S. hotel metrics rebounded last month. In the previous 113 months, revenue per available room decreased year over year only twice, including June. July, however, registered positive results in all three key indicators, per STR: RevPAR grew 1.1 percent year over year to $99.62, average daily rate increased 0.7 percent to $135.04 and occupancy increased 0.4 percent to 73.8 percent. These results came just one week after STR downgraded its forecast through 2020.
"This was the first month in history with absolute RevPAR basically at $100," said STR SVP of lodging insights Jan Freitag, but he remains cautious. "The industry set another monthly demand record, but a steady stream of new supply muted occupancy growth and influenced already weak pricing confidence. ADR growth, which continues below the rate of inflation, has reached 1 percent or higher just twice this year."
Among the 25 U.S. markets with the most rooms, Denver registered the largest year-over-year July jump in RevPAR, 8.1 percent, owing in part to the largest lift in ADR, 4.4 percent. Houston experienced the highest rise in occupancy, 4.9 percent. Nashville registered the second-highest increases in all three metrics: 3.3 percent for ADR, 4.6 percent for occupancy and 8 percent for RevPAR. San Francisco/San Mateo saw the only double-digit RevPAR decrease, 13.7 percent, primarily the result of the steepest decline in ADR, 9.7 percent. New Orleans, negatively affected by Tropical Storm Barry, saw the only double-digit decrease in occupancy, 12 percent, and the second-largest decline in RevPAR, 9.9 percent.
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