From the February issue: A year and a half ago, the New York City hotel industry was hurting badly, as tourists cut back on spending and business travelers stopped calling to book rooms.

But times have changed. Indeed, the industry, while not back to where it was at the market’s peak, has done a 180 and is now rebounding stronger and faster than most had expected.

This month, The Real Deal talked to hotel experts not only about the key metrics for evaluating hotel performance, but also about development, hotel sales and a host of other crucial industry markers. [more]

U.S. hotels saw a 5.7 percent occupancy increase from last year and a 2 percent year-over-year uptick in daily room rates during the week that ended Jan. 8, according to the latest data from Smith Travel Research. Occupancy is now at nearly 43 percent and rates are at an average of $93.43. Revenue per available room, the third of the three key performance metrics for the hotel industry, saw a 7.8 percent year-over-year increase during the week, finishing at $40, STR said. TRD

The U.S. hotel industry posted improvements across the board last week, with all of the key metrics showing increases in year-over-year comparisons, according to the latest data from Smith Travel Research. Occupancy rose 4.7 percent to just under 50 percent, while average daily rates inched up by .5 percent to $96.87. Revenue per available room, or revpar, was up 5.3 percent, to $48.31. As The Real Deal’s Michael Stoler noted earlier this week, investors are once again taking an interest in the U.S. hotel market after steady improvements in recent months. TRD
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The average daily rate for hotels nationwide remained relatively flat for the week ending Oct. 9, compared to a week earlier, data from Smith Travel Research showed. The ADR climbed just 2.2 percent week-over-week, according to Hotel News Now, reaching $101.58. The revenue per available room showed more considerable gains, climbing 8.8 percent week-over-week to $64.62. The luxury segment, however, showed significant increases in its ADR and revpar, increasing 7.7 percent to $261.43 and 13.8 percent to $190.93, respectively. The luxury segment was the only part of the market to seen an ADR increase of more than 5 percent. Occupancy across the entire market climbed 6.5 percent last week, reaching 63.6 percent. TRD

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Daily room rates in New York City hotels hit $298.70 last week, up nearly 14 percent from one week earlier for the largest increase in the country, according to the latest data from Smith Travel Research. The improvement came as hotels nationwide experienced similarly positive results, with occupancy levels up 6.7 percent week-over-week to 63.5 percent across all sectors and markets, and revenue per available room up 8.6 percent to $63.66 for the same time period. The average daily rate, meanwhile, was also up 1.8 percent to $100.25. The luxury segment performed best last week, with a 9.2 percent uptick in occupancy, to 70.8 percent, and a 5.2 percent increase in average daily rate, to $250.89. Revenue per available room rose 14.9 percent to $177.72. TRD

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Daily room rates in New York City hotels hit $298.70 last week, up nearly 14 percent from one week earlier for the largest increase in the country, according to the latest data from Smith Travel Research. The improvement came as hotels nationwide experienced similarly positive results, with occupancy levels up 6.7 percent week-over-week to 63.5 percent across all sectors and markets, and revenue per available room up 8.6 percent to $63.66 for the same time period. The average daily rate, meanwhile, was also up 1.8 percent to $100.25. The luxury segment performed best last week, with a 9.2 percent uptick in occupancy, to 70.8 percent, and a 5.2 percent increase in average daily rate, to $250.89. Revenue per available room rose 14.9 percent to $177.72. TRD

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U.S. hotel performance improved last week, with occupancy, average daily rates and revenue per available room all up from their levels during the same period last year, according to the latest data from Smith Travel Research. Average daily rates rose 2.1 percent to $94.37 in the 13th-straight week of increases for this metric after more than a year-and-a-half of steady declines. The continued rise in daily rates, said Chad Church, director of special services at STR, is evidence that “the industry trusts the positive demand trends that emerged earlier in the year.” New York City saw the largest increase in average daily rates — a 13 percent uptick to $217.32 — and was followed by Orlando, Fla., which saw a 9.9 percent increase to $74.89. In more welcome news for the industry, occupancy rose in each of the top 25 hotel markets and by 7.5 percent nationwide to 57.4 percent. Revenue per available room, or revpar, also rose 9.7 percent overall, to $54.16. TRD

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City overtaken by first-place London on occupancy, but still beats other global competitors

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From the May issue: New York hotels saw steep price declines last year and watched occupancy rates fall behind those of London, its main international rival. Still, the Big Apple fared better than Dubai and other high-end markets. Hotel occupancy, one of the key statistics tracked by the hospitality industry, dropped 5.7 percent to 77.2 percent in New York last year, putting it in third place behind London, which had an 80.5 percent occupancy rate, and Sydney, which logged 78.5 percent occupancy. That was a shift from 2008, when New York City had the highest hotel occupancy of all the cities tracked by The Real Deal, with an average of 81.9 percent of its rooms filled during the year, according to data from STR Global.

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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 South Florida Web site: South Florida hotels got more than a two-point conversion from the recent Super Bowl weekend. In Broward County, the room occupancy rate rose to 77.6 percent from 70.2 percent, according to Smith Travel Research. Both Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties saw even greater percentage increases, to 76 percent up from 68.3 percent for the former and to 73 percent from 63.1 percent for the latter. Hotel industry consultant Scott Brush, of Brush & Co. said numbers will probably remain elevated for another week because of the Miami International Boat Show, but noted that travel to the region is still down overall. [more]