Despite news that will likely influence the short-term economic performance of the U.S. economy, PKF Hospitality Research has affirmed its strong forecasts of revenue-per-available-room growth for the U.S. hotel industry. PKF is projecting RevPAR for U.S. hotels will increase by 5.8% in 2012 and another 6.6% in 2013, identical to the company’s forecasts in March.
“Given the headlines of late, I understand why our clients are concerned about the future health of the economy and the U.S. lodging industry. However, the fundamental questions should focus on how many of these headlines were a surprise,” Mark Woodworth, president of PKF, said in a statement. “Sluggish job growth and economic chaos in Europe have been in the news for a while, and despite these conditions, the performance of the U.S. lodging market during the first quarter of 2012 was just as strong as we had forecast.”
The San Francisco/San Mateo market experienced major increases in all three key performance metrics during the week of 10-16 June, according to data from STR, parent company of HotelNewsNow.com. The market’s occupancy grew 12% to 93.5%, its average daily rate increased 37.4% to $200.83 and its RevPAR increased 53.9% to $187.75.
Overall, the U.S. hotel industry’s occupancy ended the week with a 2.1% increase to 70.5%, ADR increased 5.2% to $107.14 and RevPAR rose 7.3% to $75.54.
More market performance can be found on HotelNewsNow.com.
At least two U.S.-based hotel franchisors used Asia/Pacific Investor Days to give investors updates on their progress in the Asia/Pacific region.
For Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide nowhere is that growth more apparent than in the Asia/Pacific region. Ninety percent of the company’s pipeline exists outside the United States. A large chunk of that pipeline (64%) is in the Asia/Pacific region, where the company has 153 hotels in the pipeline, Stephen Ho, Starwood’s president of the Asia/Pacific region, said during a webcast of Starwood’s Asia Pacific Investor Day event.
Starwood is relying heavily on its Sheraton brand to spearhead Asia/Pacific development, executives said. Of the company’s 378 operating and pipeline hotels in Asia/Pacific, 42% are under the Sheraton flag.
Marriott International also held its analyst and investor presentation in China this week. The company indicated it plans to have more than 100 hotels across nine brands and nearly 40 markets in China by 2014.
“Even today, China is our second most important market after North America, representing roughly 5% of total fees. On average we expect to open a hotel a month in this country over the next three years,” Arne Sorenson, the company’s president and CEO, said in a news release.
Billionaire Larry Ellison, founder and CEO of Oracle, has signed an agreement to purchase 98% of the Hawaiian island of Lanai from fellow billionaire David Murdock, a sale that includes two resort hotels—the Four Seasons Resort Lana’i at Manele Bay and the Four Seasons Resorts Lana’i, The Lodge at Koele.
According to documents filed with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, Castle & Cooke and Ellison are asking for interim approval of the indirect sale and transfer of the regulated subsidiaries, such as Lana’i Water Company and Lanai Transportation Company , to happen no later than Tuesday.
The sale also includes two championship golf courses and club houses—The Experience at Koele and The Challenge at Manele—and more than 88,000 acres of land. The price was not disclosed, but previous estimates put the price around $500 million, according to USA Today, citing previous reports in the Maui News.
Future business activity in U.S. hotels increased 1.1% during May following an increase of 0.9% during April, according to the latest reading of e-forecasting.com’s Hotel Industry Leading indicator.
HIL is a composite indicator that gauges future monthly overall business conditions in the U.S. hotel industry. The indicator registered 103.8 during May; it was set to equal 100 in 2005.
HIL's six-month growth rate posted a positive rate of 5.2% in May, following a positive rate of 3.6% in April. This compares to a long-term annual growth rate of 3%, the same as the 30-year average annual growth rate of the industry's gross domestic product.
Compiled by Jason Q. Freed.
