Hotels in the Phoenix and Cleveland markets caught the hot hand in early April when they hosted the men’s and women’s Final Four.
Growing performance year over year might have been an easy layup for Phoenix and Cleveland hotels, but hotels in both cities also outperformed their 2023 counterparts.
The Division I NCAA college basketball season wrapped earlier this month. At the women's Final Four held at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, the South Carolina Gamecocks capped off an undefeated season with a victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes in the championship game. On the men's side, the Connecticut Huskies defeated the Purdue Boilermakers at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, outside of Phoenix. UConn won its second consecutive men's basketball championship.
The first slate of Final Four matchups on the women’s side took place on Friday, April 5, with the championship game on Sunday, April 7. The men’s Final Four began on Saturday, April 6, with the championship game on Monday, April 8.
Hotel revenue per available room in the Cleveland market between April 5-8 was $195, a whopping 227% year-over-year increase, according to CoStar data. Average daily rate rose 105% year over year to $241 and occupancy was 81%, which was a 60% jump over last year.
It’s important to note that Cleveland also saw an influx of travel due to its location in the path of totality for the solar eclipse that took place on April 8.
There was clearly a tremendous interest in the women’s Final Four, though. ESPN reported the championship game between South Carolina and Iowa had 18.9 million viewers, the most ever for a women’s college basketball game and the most viewers for any basketball game, college or professional, in five years.
The Phoenix market also saw a marked increase in hotel metrics compared to last year. RevPAR from April 5-8 was $238, a 109% year-over-year increase. ADR increased 51% to $274 and occupancy rose 38% to 87%.
Comparison to 2023 Host Markets
Not only did Phoenix and Cleveland hotels smash their year-over-year market comparisons, both cities also outperformed their respective 2023 Final Four hosts by a wide margin. Houston hosted the men’s Final Four between April 1-3 last year, while Dallas hosted the women’s Final Four between March 31 and April 2.
Cleveland’s Final Four RevPAR was up 83.1% over Dallas’ $106.52 RevPAR from March 31 through April 3 last year. Cleveland hotel ADR was up 77.7% above Dallas' $135.65 hotel ADR. Occupancy was up 4.5% this year, as Cleveland captured 81% hotel occupancy compared to Dallas’ 77.5%.
There’s an even larger discrepancy when comparing hotel performance in the host markets for the past two men’s Final Fours. RevPAR was up 106.8% in the Phoenix market over Houston’s $115.10 mark a year ago.
ADR tells a similar story, with Phoenix getting a 75.6% boost over Houston’s rates in 2023. Occupancy was up 18.4% year over year when compared to Houston's hotel occupancy during the 2023 Final Four weekend.