As forecasted, Phoenix’s hotel industry ranked second all-time among Super Bowl host markets in average daily rate and revenue per available room during the weekend of the big game.
While the market’s rankings were as forecasted by CoStar hospitality analytics firm STR, the values were different than projected. ADR was $538 and RevPAR was $468 for the weekend, beating forecasts, while occupancy was lower than projected at 86.9%.
Adjusting for inflation, Phoenix’s real ADR and RevPAR were easily all-time highs for the market. The real RevPAR value dipped to third among Super Bowl hosts behind Miami in 2020 and New Orleans in 2013.
This year’s big game took place during Phoenix’s normal peak season and coincided with the annual WM Phoenix Open, which is the most attended PGA Tour event on the calendar each year. The top ADR for the week was recorded on Saturday at $544, with 22 hotels in the market achieving ADR above $1,000. The market’s previous daily ADR records were recorded when Phoenix last hosted the Super Bowl in 2015.
This was the fourth time that Phoenix hosted the Super Bowl. Miami is the only other city that has hosted four times. Comparing 2023 hotel performance to 2008 and 2015, nominal and inflation-adjusted ADR and RevPAR significantly outperformed. This year, hotel occupancy was 86.9%, which was lower than 2015 (93.6%) but above 2008 (83.2%). However, this year generated 5,200 more occupied hotel rooms than 2015. Hotel inventory increased by nearly 7,000 rooms during the same period, up 10.9%, which accounts for the lower occupancy.
Comparing to normal performance of the same week, market ADR and RevPAR showed a better than $300 premium, or a 150% index for ADR and a 260% index for RevPAR. Occupancy was 13 percentage points above standard levels on Thursday and Friday, 18 points or higher than normal levels on Saturday and 27 points higher on Sunday.
Almost every submarket experienced higher than $100 RevPAR premiums, but Scottsdale achieved the highest premium, followed by Phoenix Central (downtown) and Phoenix West, which houses State Farm Stadium. Scottsdale represents nearly 70% of the of the luxury class hotel room inventory in the market, and with Super Bowl average ticket prices around $8,000, it appears that many of the attendees also opted for higher-end accommodations.
As previously mentioned, Phoenix drops a spot in real RevPAR when adjusting for inflation. The New Orleans market achieved higher occupancy when it hosted the game in 2013, which was also bolstered by Mardi Gras festivities occurring in the same month.
However, Phoenix sold 73,000-plus more hotel rooms over the three-day weekend than New Orleans. Phoenix had nearly two-thirds more hotel room inventory in 2023 than New Orleans had in 2013, thus the difference in occupancy.
M. Brian Riley is a senior research analyst at STR. Emmy Hise is senior director of hospitality analytics at CoStar Group.
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.