The average daily rate at U.S. hotels in March increased 3.2 percent year over year to $124.37, according to STR. Occupancy dipped 0.4 percent to 61.7 percent, making March the third consecutive month for slight occupancy declines. STR senior vice president for lodging insights Jan Freitag said the Easter shift hurt results; business travel was all but nonexistent during Easter weekend, and group occupancy decreased 9.6 percent year over year in March. Among the top 25 markets, Norfolk/Virginia Beach posted the only double-digit increase in occupancy, 10.5 percent to 58.7 percent. Houston saw the largest occupancy decline, 9.6 percent to 69.2 percent. Los Angeles/Long Beach experienced the largest ADR increase, up 12.2 percent to $171.01, while New Orleans reported the largest ADR drop, 2.4 percent $156.65.