The hotel industry is as strong as it’s ever been and its near-term outlook is stable and strong. It was reported last week that the U.S. hotel industry recorded its 100th consecutive month of growth in revenue per available room (RevPAR) in June, the longest unbroken run of growth in the sector’s history.
Hotel revenue has risen consistently in the United States since the last decline in the key industry metric in February 2010 when RevPAR fell 3.8 percent, according to data released by hotel analyst STR.
The 100-month growth streak remains 12 months short of the industry’s longest overall cycle of expansion from December 1991 to March 2001. However, this period included a brief fall in RevPAR in August 1998.
In an observation that came as no surprise whatsoever to tour operators trying to find room allotments at bearable rates, Amanda Hite, president and CEO of STR, said “The lack of significant supply growth coupled with consistently high demand has enabled hoteliers to continue to push occupancy and room rates beyond peak levels.”
STR reported that each of the key performance metrics averaged over 12 months “at all-time highs,” with occupancy at 66.2 percent, an average daily rate of $128.27, and RevPAR of $84.98. For its measurement, STR recorded 55,689 hotels and 5,250,635 hotel rooms in the U.S. in June 2018.
More of the Same: The strength of the hotel industry and the manner in which demand is keeping pace with, or pacing just ahead of supply, is expected to continue through 2018 and through next year.
In its forecast for 2018-19 earlier this year, STR, along with Tourism released the following table.
