U.S. hotels had a strong first week of April, highlighted by the upper-upscale segment which saw occupancy rates surge 9.2 percent, daily rates increase 7.4 percent and revenue per available room soar 17.4 percent, according to Smith Travel Research. Across all markets, occupancy rose 4.8 percent to 62 percent, and the average daily rate increased 4.7 percent to $101.22. In addition to the upper-upscale market, the luxury market and the upscale market achieved double-digit increases in revpar. No market segment saw statistically significant decreases in daily rates. TRD [more]

New York City hotels have flourished in 2010 and the industry can expect more of the same during 2011, according to the latest report from Domain Properties, a company specializing in off-market hotels and properties. The report said that New York City will have 46.7 million visitors by the end of 2010, with more hotels to be built in Lower Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. According to the report, 31 hotels, with 7,523 rooms are expected to be developed in New York City between 2010 and 2011. By the end of 2011, Manhattan will have 77,943 hotel rooms. TRD [more]

The recovery in the U.S. hotel industry will continue in 2011 and will further improve in 2012, according to a CB Richard Ellis’ annual trends report. CBRE predicts that revenue per available room, or revpar, for full service hotels will improve 1.6 percent over the next year and 4.4 percent over two years, rising. The report also notes that occupancy has increased this year, with
revpar growing by nearly double digits on a year-over-year basis. “The significant growth of room rates over the next couple of quarters, combined with continued occupancy gains, will bring revpar levels closer to their previous peak in 2007,” said Abigail Rosenbaum, an economist at CBRE. “It will take slightly longer than in earlier recoveries, but we expect
that by 2014 both full-service and limited-service revpar will be
expanding.” TRD [more]

The U.S. hotel industry continued to suffer last week despite gains in the luxury sector and in select submarkets, including New York City and Miami, according to data from Smith Travel Research for March 28 through April 3. Hotels saw an overall occupancy drop of 3.6 percent to 54.1 percent during the week, and the average daily rate was down 4.4 percent to $94.45. Revenue per available room, or revpar, dropped 7.9 percent to $51.05. Meanwhile, luxury hotels saw improvements across the board: occupancy rose 2.2 percent to 62.8 percent, the average daily rate reached $254.52, up 1.7 percent from the week before, and revpar was up 4 percent to $159.78. The New York City market posted the largest occupancy increase — 22.3 percent — of all the top 25 markets surveyed, reaching 87 percent. It also had the largest revpar increase, up 26.8 percent to $179.61. Miami-Hialeah and New York City were two of the three top markets to see rises in average daily rates, up 9 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively. TRD

From the May issue: New York hoteliers are used to collecting accolades for their luxurious rooms and top-chef cuisine, but the economic meltdown is bestowing an unwelcome new distinction on the city: worst-performing hotel market in the United States. The city earned the title by leading the nation last month in a decline in revenue per available room, or revpar. In the trailing month through April 11, the most recent data available at press time, New York logged a stunning 34.5 percent fall, according to Smith Travel Research. That’s even worse than the nationwide revpar drop of nearly 20 percent in the most recent trailing month. (Other cities, including Chicago, are taking it on the chin, as well, with declines worse than the national average.) For all of 2009, this crucial benchmark of hotel health is expected to drop 26.1 percent in New York City, the worst revpar performance among U.S. cities, according to hotel industry research firm PKF Hospitality Consulting.

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From the May issue: New York hoteliers are used to collecting
accolades for their luxurious rooms and top-chef cuisine, but the
economic meltdown is bestowing an unwelcome new distinction on the
city: worst-performing hotel market in the United States. The city
earned the title by leading the nation last month in a decline in
revenue per available room, or revpar. In the trailing month through
April 11, the most recent data available at press time, New York logged
a stunning 34.5 percent fall, according to Smith Travel Research.
That’s even worse than the nationwide revpar drop of nearly 20 percent
in the most recent trailing month. (Other cities, including Chicago,
are taking it on the chin, as well, with declines worse than the
national average.) For all of 2009, this crucial benchmark of hotel
health is expected to drop 26.1 percent in New York City, the worst
revpar performance among U.S. cities, according to hotel industry
research firm PKF Hospitality Consulting. [more]