U.S. hotel RevPAR improved as spring break propelled leisure travel. Revenue per available room rose 2.8%, mostly on average daily rate, which increased 1.8%.
RevPAR gains were particularly strong Sunday through Thursday – up 5.6% – but ADR also rose 3.7%. Sunday-to-Thursday RevPAR growth in non-top 25 markets was slightly better (+6.1% vs. +5.2%), but both groups saw weekend RevPAR retreat with the top 25 U.S. hotel markets reporting the largest decrease at 5.5%.
As reported in last week’s U.S. hotel performance analysis, this year’s spring break for K-12 students is later and elongated due to the shift of Easter and a later start to the school calendar after the winter holiday break. The percentage of students on spring break in the most recent week was the highest of the year according the STR’s School Break Report. The next largest percentage of students on break will occur in the week ending April 19, 2025, ahead of Easter. A year ago, the highest volume of K-12 spring breakers occurred in the week ending March 30, 2024, which was Easter week.
RevPAR growth was highest on Sunday (+9.8%) and moderated slowly to 2.9% growth on Thursday. Weekend (Friday/Saturday) RevPAR declined 2.8%. Both the top 25 U.S. hotel markets and all others saw a similar pattern. In the full week from Sunday to Saturday, the top 25 markets trailed the rest of the U.S. in RevPAR growth (+1.8% vs.+3.8%) due to the sharper weekend RevPAR decrease.
Across the top 25 hotel markets, only eight markets saw RevPAR above the top 25 average of 1.8% growth. However, two markets, Chicago and Anaheim (Orange County), saw RevPAR growth soar more than 20%. Chicago hosted the ProMat 2025 conference and Orange County welcomed the American Physical Society conference.
Three other top 25 markets posted double-digit RevPAR gains: Minneapolis, Tampa and Philadelphia. In Minneapolis, the central business district and Bloomington saw solid growth due to the Northern Light Volleyball Qualifier. Tampa was lifted by submarkets surrounding the central business district that were propelled by spring breakers, and Philadelphia hosted the NCAA Wresting Tournament, which had the greatest impact on the Philadelphia stadium market and the central business district.
Washington, D.C., had the largest decline this week due to the difficult comp to last year when Satellite 2024 was held. Frequently when a market experiences a large increase or decrease it is generally due to an event that did or did not take place.
Additional market highlights included Houston with its continuation of the 23-day Houston Rodeo that ended March 23. The market surrounding the NRG stadium – Houston Medical Center/NRG Stadium – recorded a 67.6% RevPAR increase. The first round of the Men’s and Women’s NCAA Basketball tournament helped and hindered host markets this year and last year respectively. Generally, the smaller markets see the largest gains. This week, the top markets were Milwaukee and Cleveland with weekend RevPAR of 58.2% and 42.3%, respectively.
Finally, spring break markets saw solid growth led by Florida Panhandle, which had the nation’s highest RevPAR gain this week (28.3%). Occupancy was led by Florida Keys (91.1%) and ADR by Maui ($466).
Luxury hotels continue strong performance led by markets outside the top 25
Luxury hotels saw the largest RevPAR gain (8.4%) lifted primarily by ADR. Markets outside the top 25 advanced RevPAR at a faster pace than the top 25 (12.2% vs. 5.6%). However, outside the top 25, occupancy was the main driver while ADR lifted RevPAR for luxury hotels in the top 25 markets.
Across the remaining chain scales, RevPAR increased at a more modest level ranging from 1.8% to 0% with ADR driving the upper upscale and to a less extent upscale hotels while occupancy lifted the bottom three. Upper-upscale hotels and economy hotels followed the luxury pattern by seeing a greater performance lift outside the top 25 markets while the middle three chain scales posted greater RevPAR gains in the Top 25 Markets.
All chain scales followed the strong week and weaker weekend pattern seen nationally with the shoulder and weekdays seeing solid RevPAR gains. Weekend RevPAR slowed across the board with only luxury chains posting positive RevPAR (2.2%) while the other chains scales retreated ranging from down 2.9% in midscale to down 4.2% in upscale.
Group demand down for the third week in a row
Group demand in luxury and upper-upscale hotels decreased for the third consecutive week, down 6.6%, while ADR rose 4.9%. Transient demand advanced 5.5% with ADR increasing 2.8%.
The shifting performance across the chain scales is partially due to the segmentation shift, a result of spring break propelling leisure and slowing business. This shift is magnified across the top 25 markets posting an even greater group demand decline, down 8%. Only 10 of the top 25 markets posted a group demand increase with Philadelphia and Detroit seeing the largest growth. Conversely, transient demand was up for both top 25 and the rest of the country. Transient ADR was flat for the top 25 while the rest of the country saw a notable increase (6.7%).
Other things we are watching
Hurricane-affected hotel markets continue to see elevated performance relative to the rest of the U.S. with RevPAR for the week up 9.1% and occupancy up 2.4 percentage points. Augusta, Georgia, with RevPAR up 24.8%, consistently ranks at the top of the list of 13 identified markets.
The three submarkets most affected by January’s wildfires in Los Angeles – Los Angeles East, Los Angeles West and Pasadena/Glendale/Burbank – continued to post strong RevPAR gains with this week’s results ranging from 20.5% (Pasadena/Glendale/ Burbank) to 6.5% (Los Angeles North).
Demand across hotels on both the Canadian and Mexico borders increased this week following three weeks of demand declines. Of the 1,306 hotels within 50 miles of the Canadian border, demand was up 1.3%. On the Mexican border, of the 916 hotels within 50 miles, demand was up 4.5%. As a comparison, U.S. demand was up 1.6%.
The weeks ahead
Next week will likely see strong results due to the easy comparisons as last year was the lead up to Easter. As a reminder, RevPAR fell that week by 6% on falling demand. Spring break holidays will continue to drive leisure travel until Easter 2025 but at a slower pace. Additionally, several parts of the country will see difficult comparisons in the days around Monday, April 7, 2025, due last year’s total solar eclipse that occurred on Monday, April 8, 2024. U.S. results will be affected as major markets were in the path of the eclipse. Following closely will be Easter week (week ending April 18), which will suppress demand.
Global ADR continues full steam ahead
Globally, hotel ADR continued a remarkable growth streak with positive year over year ADR gains in 58 of the past 60 weeks. This week was no exception with ADR rising 5.7% producing a RevPAR gain of 6.3%. Most of the largest countries, based on hotel supply, experienced RevPAR gains almost entirely due to ADR. Of the four markets posting negative RevPAR, occupancy drove the decline, except in China.
Mexico continued to see strong hotel performance as it has since last fall. Baja California, Mexican Caribbean, Cancun, and Mexico City led the strong growth with 12 of the 14 markets posting positive RevPAR driven primarily by ADR. India returned this week with strong RevPAR gains as 16 of its 17 markets reported increases. India also produced one of the only occupancy gains (+5.4 percentage points) among the top markets. The other market was Mexico (+2.3 percentage points). Japan holds an equally strong position next to India with ADR driving RevPAR growth. All 11 Japanese markets reported positive RevPAR change. Canada and the United Kingdom, two countries with travel patterns that often reflect those of the U.S., both reported declining RevPAR due to decreases in occupancy.
Global hotel performance in Europe and Central/South America is also expected to be affected by the Easter calendar shift.
Isaac Collazo is senior director of analytics at STR. Chris Klauda is senior director of market insights at STR.
This article represents an interpretation of data collected by CoStar's hospitality analytics firm, STR. Please feel free to contact an editor with any questions or concerns. For more analysis of STR data, visit the data insights blog on STR.com.