The latest weekly data from CoStar hospitality analytics firm STR shows the Fourth of July holiday muted performance of U.S. hotels, while global hotel occupancy excluding the U.S. edged out a post-pandemic high.
U.S. hotel industry occupancy for the week ending July 8 was 61.8%, down 7.9 percentage points from the prior week and down 1.5 percentage points from last year when the Fourth of July fell on a Monday.
The Fourth of July holiday week is historically slow for U.S. hotels due to constricted business travel, despite increased summer and holiday travel.
The timing of the holiday this year also had an impact on hotel performance, which was typical for a week when the Fourth of July falls on a Tuesday. The last time that happened, in 2017, occupancy was higher at 65.7%, but the occupancy decline was slightly steeper: down 8.9 percentage points from the week prior and 2.1 percentage points year over year. Due to greater supply of hotel rooms, more rooms were sold during the holiday week this year, despite lower occupancy.
Average daily rate for the week was up 1.2% year over year to $156, but it was not enough to offset the occupancy decline, resulting in a 1.2% decrease in revenue per available room to $96.
- As has been the case in all but three weeks this year, the top 25 U.S. markets outperformed the rest of the country with occupancy of 64.8%, which was flat compared to the same week in 2022. Year-over-year ADR growth, however, was weaker in the top 25 – up just 0.2%.
- Oahu and San Diego were the only top 25 markets posting occupancy above 80%. However, several markets had double-digit, year-over-year RevPAR growth, including Tampa, Denver, New York and St. Louis. The largest occupancy gain in the group was achieved by New York, up 7.9 percentage points.
Global Performance
Global occupancy excluding the U.S was 70.9% for the week, clipping the post-pandemic high of 70.8% recorded three weeks ago. The measure was up 6.1 percentage points year over year. ADR increased 13.2% year over year to $158. As a result, RevPAR was up 23.9% to $112, just shy of the post-pandemic record set the week prior.
Among the top 10 countries, based on supply, occupancy increased 6.9 percentage points year over year to 74%, the highest level since the start of the pandemic and surpassing the high of 73.8% set the week before. Top 10 ADR grew 10.7% year over year to $149, boosting RevPAR by 22.1% to $110. All top 10 countries had positive RevPAR growth except Mexico, which declined via falling ADR.
- For an eighth consecutive week, the United Kingdom led the top 10 in occupancy with a level of 85.1%, up 1.7 percentage points from a year ago. Occupancy was also at its highest level since March 2020. ADR grew 12.6% over the same time period, lifting RevPAR by 15%.
- RevPAR in Japan was up 116.2% compared to the same week in 2022, driven by a 14-percentage-point gain in occupancy and an 89.7% ADR increase.
- Indonesia reported the second-highest RevPAR gain, up 46.5%, followed by China, up 40.4%.
Chris Klauda is senior director of market insights at STR, and Isaac Collazo is vice president of analytics 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.