HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee—The U.S. hotel industry in July reported the largest number of rooms sold during a single month, according to data from STR.
The industry reported a 3.6-percent increase in demand for the month with more than 105 million roomnights sold. This is only the second time the industry has sold more than 100 million roomnights in any given month, the last time being July 2010.
“July continues to impress,” said Brad Garner, COO at STR. “The industry topped 105 million roomnights sold (for the month), outpacing last year’s record-setting 102 million rooms sold. While the demand storyline continues to be very compelling, the broken record of stubborn rate growth is still spinning on the turntable. We’re still bullish on demand for hotel rooms, however, given recent economic news, we will be watching to see if consumers tap on the brakes.”
Overall, the U.S. hotel industry’s occupancy increased 2.9 percent to 69.9 percent, average daily rate ended the month up 3.9 percent to US$103.09, and revenue per available room rose 6.9 percent to US$72.07.
Among the Top 25 Markets, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida, reported the largest occupancy increase, rising 13.5 percent to 61.5 percent, followed by Phoenix, Arizona (+11.6 percent to 48.4 percent), and Miami-Hialeah, Florida (+11.4 percent to 75.8 percent). New Orleans, Louisiana, fell 15.6 percent in occupancy to 61.3 percent, reporting the largest occupancy decrease, followed by Oahu Island, Hawaii, with a 6.9 percent decrease to 83.4 percent.
Among the Chain Scale segments, the Luxury segment (+3.5 percent to 74.2 percent) and the Independent segment (+3.4 percent to 68.6 percent) achieved the largest occupancy increases for the month. None of the Chain Scale segments reported occupancy decreases.
View U.S. hotel review for July 2011.
Media Contacts:
Jeff Higley
VP, Digital Media & Communication
jeff@str.com
+1 (615) 824 8664 ext. 3318
Rachael Spann Urie
Director, Public Relations
rurie@str.com
+1 (615) 824 8664 ext. 3305
