Prime Hotel in South Beach

South Florida’s hotel market posted strong numbers across the board in March, showing improvement in occupancy, daily rates and revenue per available room, according to STR, the Miami Herald reported. South Florida hotel rates rose 9 percent to $206 per room, with revpar up 9 percent to $177. Overall, the U.S. hotel market saw a 4 percent increase in occupancy, along with a 3.9 percent improvement in the average daily rate. “A very strong March contributed to a solid first quarter showing for the industry,” said Amanda Hite, president of STR. “Spring breaks, unseasonable warm weather across the country and the fact that March included 10 Fridays and Saturdays compared to only eight in 2011 helped boost monthly and first-quarter performance.” [Miami Herald]

South Beach's Sense Hotel

The national hospitality sector is heading to its third year of recovery, according to a report from Marcus & Millichap. Hotel occupancy nationwide is expected to reach nearly 61 percent this year, with ADR slated to increase by 4 percent on a year-over-year basis. The three strongest hotel markets are North Dakota, Nevada and Texas at present. [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 average daily rate for hotels nationwide remained relatively flat for the week ending Oct. 9, compared to the previous week, 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. [Hotel News Now]

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There were 322 hotel sales and property transfers in the first half of the year, according to hotel real estate tracking firm Lodging Econometics. The hotel market activity so far this year — encompassing individual transactions, portfolio transactions and merger and acquisition transfers — is on track to surpass 2009′s activity level, when just 506 such transactions occurred. In 2007, the peak year, 3,543 transactions and property transfers occurred. Leading the sales were “larger, well-located hotels,” the report says, with 52 of the hotels selling for more than $10 million. Of those, 29 sold for more than $20 million — “an unusually high” sale price, the report shows. The increase in sales volume is tied to a stabilization on Wall Street, according to the report, with an uptick in mortgage banking activity facilitating the rebound. TRD

Private equity firm Blackstone Group is looking to buy a minority stake in Extended Stay, a now-distressed hotel chain it sold in 2007 for $8 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. Blackstone’s approximately $100 million investment would be part of a larger, $905 million potential buy-up of the troubled hotel company, made by a group of investors led by Centerbridge Partners and Paulson & Co. The companies’ bid for the 680-property hotel chain, whose bankruptcy filing is the largest ever recorded in the hotel industry, is a direct challenge to a similar buy up proposed by Starwood Capital Group, the company whose hotel branch is best known for its line of W Hotels.

Defaults among hotel loans backing commercial mortgage-backed securities could nearly double by 2012, reaching a 30 percent default rate according to a report from Fitch ratings. This contributed to Fitch’s negative outlook rating for the industry, as the loans facing default comprise more than $8 billion in the total hotel loan balance. The report also showed that hotel property values are currently down about 50 percent from their peak level in 2007 and that hotel revenues have declined by 20 percent since 2008. TRD

The U.S. hotel industry posted increased occupancy and revenue per available room numbers for the week ending March 6, according to data from Smith Travel Research, a rare bright spot in what has been a shaky couple of years for the hospitality sector. The 0.9 percent revenue per available room, or revpar, increase, to $52.75, was the third in 18 months and the first that wasn’t holiday-related. Luxury hotels reported the largest increase in revpar, up 10.2 percent to $160.19. Occupancy was up overall to 54.9 percent from 50.9 percent one week earlier, while the average daily rate dropped 3 percent to $96.05. Luxury hotels also were most-improved in terms of occupancy, up 16.5 percent to 66.4 percent. The Miami-Hialeah market was the most-improved region with average daily rates up 10.1 percent to $189.37. “The growth in year-over-year revpar is significant because the occupancies are clearly showing an improvement and the decline in rates is finally starting to slow,” said Randy Smith, co-founder and CEO of Smith Travel Research. “While the size of the revpar increase is not significant, it is a clear sign that the outlook for the industry is improving.” TRD

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. [SFBJ] [more]

The U.S. hotel industry has finished off 2009 on a sour note, posting declines in occupancy rates, average daily rates, and revenue per available room for the week ending Dec. 26, according to data from Smith Travel Research. In year-over-year measurements, occupancy fell 5.4 to 33.8 percent, average daily rate slipped 8 percent to $85.78, and revenue per available room, or revpar, for the week dropped 13 percent to finish the year at 29 percent. New York posted the second largest average daily rate decrease nationally, falling 15 percent to $198.92. In Florida, Orlando and Tampa-St. Petersburg were two of five markets to post revpar decreases that exceeded 16 percent, falling 18.3 percent and 18.1 percent, respectively. TRD