STR Reports Performance of Hotels in U.S. in April 2012

According to data from STR, the U.S. hotel industry's occupancy rates rose 1.4% to 61.8% in April 2012. ADR was up 5.0% to US$105.71 and RevPAR increased 6.4% to US$65.34.

"Demand appeared to slow down-particularly leisure demand in the Midscale and Economy chain scales-and two less weekend days this April (comparable days from April 2011) contributed to the demand slow down," said Brad Garner, COO at STR. "Impressively, ADR growth for the month reached 5.0% for the first time since April of 2008. We fully anticipate meaningful ADR growth to be a consistent story line this summer and the remainder of the year."

Among the Top 25 Markets, Houston, Texas, rose 6.7% in occupancy to 68.0%, reporting the largest increase in that metric, followed by Chicago, Illinois (+6.1% to 66.3%), and Los Angeles-Long Beach, California (+6.1% to 75.2%). Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota-Wisconsin, posted the largest occupancy decrease, falling 4.7% to 60.7%.

Three markets experienced double-digit ADR increases: New Orleans, Louisiana (+11.6% to US$154); San Francisco/San Mateo, California (+11.3% to US$152.44); and Chicago (+10.1% to US$119.96). None of the top markets reported ADR decreases for the month.

Chicago jumped 16.8% in RevPAR to US$79.50, reporting the largest increase in that metric, followed by San Francisco/San Mateo (+14.4% to US$119.06) and Los Angeles-Long Beach (+13.5% to US$96.39). Atlanta, Georgia, ended the month virtually flat in RevPAR with a 0.9-percent decline to US$51.39, reporting the largest decrease in that metric.

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