STR Reports US Hotel Performance for November 2015

According to data compiled by STR, the U.S. hotel industry reported positive results in the three key performance metrics during November 2015.

In year-on-year results, the U.S. hotel industry’s occupancy increased 1.1% to 59.4%. ADR for the month was up 3.2% to US$115.44, while RevPAR increased 4.3% to US$68.60.

“November produced the second lowest RevPAR increase of the year,” said Jan Freitag, STR’s senior VP for lodging insights. “If you take into consideration that the lowest RevPAR performance month was because of the Labor Day comp in August, November was really a new low point. The calendar did not help since we lost a Saturday and gained a Monday compared to November 2014. But obviously this one day is not enough to really move the needle, so we have to come to terms with some underlying structural weakness that might be with us for some time to come.”

RevPAR in the U.S. has increased year-on-year for 69 consecutive months, but the 4.3% increase for November was below the country’s year-to-date RevPAR growth (+6.5%). RevPAR for the year, like all of the other key performance indicators, still remains at an all-time high.

Among the Top 25 Markets, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida, reported the largest increases in occupancy (+9.0% to 65.9%) and RevPAR (+18.7% to US$68.81). ADR in the market was up 8.9% to US$104.49.

Four additional markets experienced a double-digit increase in RevPAR: Dallas, Texas (+12.8% to US$67.22); San Francisco/San Mateo, California (+11.4% to US$166.12); Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota-Wisconsin (+10.2% to US$67.18); and Oahu Island, Hawaii (+10.1% to US$178.58). Overall, 19 of the Top 25 Markets reported year-on-year RevPAR growth for November.

San Francisco posted the month’s only double-digit rise in ADR, up 11.5% to US$212.90.

The largest decreases in each of the three key performance metrics were reported in New Orleans, Louisiana. Occupancy fell 7.1% to 65.9%; ADR was down 7.4% to US$144.27; and RevPAR dropped 14.0% to US$95.04.

“November was an odd month for the larger markets,” Freitag said. “Hotels in those markets normally outperform the rest of the U.S., but this month, Top 25 RevPAR growth was +3.6% compared to +5.0% in all other markets. One possible explanation is that Independent hotels are disproportionately located outside of the major metros, and since they did better than the U.S. average, they lifted the performance. Another possible reason is since major meeting hotels are more likely positioned in larger markets, the group RevPAR has a larger impact. And since group RevPAR growth was only +0.7%, it may have dampened the performance of those markets.”