U.S. hotels rebounded during the week of Sept. 13-19, with revenue per available room (RevPAR) increasing 10.4% year over year. The gain marked the fourth double-digit RevPAR increase of 2026.
While the positioning of Yom Kippur likely elevated some business and group travel activity during the week, the gain was not driven by the type of broad holiday-related comparison shift seen earlier this year.
Increases across every major U.S. hotel performance metric supported growth. Average daily rate (ADR) increased 5.7% to $179.30, the highest nominal weekly ADR ever recorded in the United States, while room demand rose 4.7% and occupancy improved by 3 percentage points. RevPAR reached $127.43, the second-highest nominal weekly level on record.
While hotel group demand rebounded from the prior week's calendar-related disruption, it was not the primary source of improvement. Luxury and upper-upscale group demand increased 7.1% after declining 34% during the preceding week, producing the largest group-demand week of 2026 with more than 2.5 million room nights sold. The timing of Yom Kippur 2026 — Sunday, Sept. 20 to Monday, Sept. 21 — likely concentrated groups and meetings into the week. However, the comparison was against an already elevated group-demand week in 2025 that immediately preceded Rosh Hashanah, limiting year-over-year growth despite the exceptionally high volume. The additional 165,000 group room nights contributed meaningfully to demand growth, but gains extended well beyond the group segment, reinforcing the breadth of the week's performance.
Growth broadens across hotel classes
Unlike much of the summer, when performance gains were concentrated among higher-end hotels, last week's growth was more evenly distributed across chain scales. From Memorial Day through Labor Day, luxury and upper-upscale hotels combined for a 10.2% RevPAR increase, compared with just 3.3% growth across midscale and economy hotels. Last week, that gap narrowed considerably. Luxury and upper-upscale hotels recorded an 11.1% RevPAR increase, while midscale and economy hotels posted an 8.4% gain.
Every U.S. hotel chain scale reported growth in ADR, occupancy, demand and RevPAR, reinforcing the widespread nature of the week's improvement.
Strong gains extend beyond major markets
Growth was equally broad at the market level. Overall, 89% of U.S. hotel markets reported higher RevPAR than the same week last year, while 79% achieved simultaneous increases in both ADR and room demand.
Major events and business conferences helped generate some of the strongest growth rates across both large and small markets, but the week's performance was not limited to major travel destinations.
Collectively, the top 25 U.S. hotel markets reported a 10.4% RevPAR increase, nearly identical to the 10.3% gain recorded across markets outside the top 25. The primary sources of that growth differed between the two groups.
Among the top 25 markets, performance was driven primarily by ADR growth. Rate increased 7.2%, while room demand rose 3.3% and occupancy improved by 2.2 percentage points. The combination produced record nominal weekly levels for both ADR ($224.82) and RevPAR ($170.75).
Hotel markets outside the top 25 generated larger demand gains, with room demand increasing 5.6%. Those markets accounted for 74% of all U.S. demand growth during the week while still producing a 4.8% increase in ADR. The breadth of those gains was notable, with 89% of non-top 25 markets increasing RevPAR and nearly 4 out of 5 posting both ADR and demand growth.
Chicago led major-market performance
Among the nation's largest hotel markets, Chicago delivered the strongest performance during the week. The market benefited from the return of the biennial International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS), a six-day event that attracted more than 80,000 attendees.
Chicago was one of five major hotel markets to record multiple nights above 90% occupancy, illustrating the extent of compression across several large urban markets. That compression, combined with strong demand across numerous destinations, helped propel both U.S. ADR and Top 25 ADR to new weekly records.
Takeaway
Last week produced a notable reversal in ADR trend. After reaching a summer peak of $178.64 during the final two weeks of June, weekly ADR steadily declined to an average of $160.06 during the first two weeks of September. Last week's ADR of $179.30 not only reversed that slowdown but established a new nominal weekly record for the U.S. hotel industry.
What makes this particularly noteworthy is that no single factor fully explains the result. The positioning of the Jewish high holidays likely supported business and group travel activity and contributed to the year’s largest luxury and upper-upscale group-demand week. Major citywide conventions, including Chicago's International Manufacturing Technology Show, helped create compression in several large urban markets, while strong demand growth extended well beyond the Top 25. With demand increasing across hotel classes and nearly nine out of ten markets reporting RevPAR growth, the industry generated the widespread support necessary to lift ADR to the highest weekly level ever recorded in the United States.
Global RevPAR slowed as Europe roared
RevPAR across the remainder of the world advanced by 2.4%, its lowest increase of the past five weeks as occupancy dropped 1.4 percentage points due to declines in China, India, Japan, Mexico and in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Those decreases were somewhat offset by large ADR gains across Europe and in Canada. Weekly ADR rose 4.3%, its second week of gains at that level.
Overall, European hotel ADR was up 10.9% on ADR growth. Western and Southern Europe saw double-digit gains in RevPAR with Northern Europe up with mid-single digit growth.
Canada stood out with RevPAR rising 14.5% on nearly equal gains in occupancy and ADR. Toronto soared with a RevPAR gain of 33.5% on a 21.8% increase in ADR. It, along with most markets, had occupancy of 80% or more.
While RevPAR in Asia-Pacific was somewhat flat (+0.9%) due to declines in China and Japan, Australia & Oceania saw strong growth 6.3% on increasing ADR. Australia itself was up 6.1% with ADR rising 4.8%.
Cole Martin is Analytics and Insights Specialist at STR and Isaac Collazo is senior director of analytics at STR.