Note: “Match days” throughout this article refers to both the night before and the night of the match, which are the peak nights for hotel performance around the World Cup matches.
U.S. hotel performance saw widespread improvement with the help of the Fourth of July holiday and the start of the FIFA World Cup knockout stage.
Revenue per available room (RevPAR) increased 10.9% in the week of June 28 to July 4, marking the 13th consecutive week of year-over-year gains. While average daily rate (ADR) remained the primary driver, increasing 6.7%, hotel demand and occupancy posted their strongest gains since April. More than 1 million additional hotel room nights were sold compared with the same week last year, lifting demand 4.3% and occupancy 2.4 percentage points.
The Fourth of July holiday helped broaden hotel performance gains across the country. With the holiday falling on Saturday compared to Friday last year, holiday weekend RevPAR increased 11.0%, supported by ADR growth of 8.4% and a 1.7-percentage-point increase in occupancy. Saturday was the primary driver of the holiday weekend increase, with RevPAR rising 19.6% year over year, while Friday posted more modest growth of 3.1% against a difficult comparison. The strength extended beyond the holiday weekend itself. Weekday hotel RevPAR performance Sunday through Thursday rose 10.8%, supported by World Cup activity and travel tied to the nation's 250th anniversary celebration.
World Cup markets
While holiday travel lifted hotel performance nationally, World Cup host markets continued to generate some of the hospitality industry's largest gains.
World Cup markets posted a 23% increase in RevPAR despite hosting nearly 50% fewer matches than the previous week, highlighting the continued impact of the tournament as it moved into the knockout stage. ADR remained roughly 21% above last year's levels, but for the first time since the tournament began, hotel occupancy also contributed to performance. Occupancy increased 1.1 percentage points, supported by a 2.4% rise in hotel room demand. Through the first 17 days of the tournament, hotel occupancy in host markets had been down 1.3 percentage points year over year.
Part of that improvement can likely be attributed to the timing of the Fourth of July holiday. Since the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, many host markets have experienced business travel displacement as hotels filled rooms with World Cup-related demand. During the holiday week, however, there was less business travel available to displace. The week surrounding Independence Day is traditionally one of the softest periods of the year for business-related travel, reflected in luxury and upper-upscale hotel group demand reaching its lowest level of the year outside of New Year's Eve. As a result, host markets entered the week with fewer headwinds than they had faced earlier in the tournament. Group demand in World Cup markets was essentially flat (+0.4%), a notable improvement from the 20.6% decline recorded the previous week.
Holiday travel further supported hotel performance in World Cup host cities. On the Fourth of July alone, hotel demand across World Cup markets increased 5.9% despite only two matches being played that day. The combination of holiday-related travel and tournament demand helped produce the strongest occupancy trends of the tournament to date.
Among host markets, Kansas City recorded the largest performance increase for both the week overall and on a match day. Despite hosting only one match during the week, RevPAR increased 49.9% as the Colombia-Ghana match on Friday generated a 152% increase in RevPAR on match day.
Philadelphia produced the second-largest lift among World Cup markets. The city's lone match of the week coincided with Fourth of July celebrations, creating one of the strongest event combinations of any market in the country. As one of the focal points of the United States' 250th anniversary celebration, Philadelphia benefited from both holiday-related travel and tournament demand, resulting in a 74.3% increase in weekend RevPAR.
Holiday and event-driven markets
Washington, D.C., delivered the strongest holiday weekend performance of any major market. Weekend RevPAR doubled year over year, increasing 100.4% on the back of a 63.5% ADR increase and a 15.9 percentage point gain in occupancy. On Saturday alone, occupancy reached 89.4%, marking the highest Fourth of July occupancy ever recorded in the nation's capital.
While a few of the largest markets saw large growth, hotel performance gains were widespread across the country. More than one-third of all U.S. hotel markets recorded double-digit RevPAR increases, supported by a mix of holiday travel, sporting events and entertainment demand. Detroit was among the top-performing non-host markets, posting a 41% increase in RevPAR as a three-day concert event boosted both hotel occupancy and room rates. Indianapolis saw an even larger lift, with RevPAR increasing 62.8% during the USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championship. The performance of both markets highlights how demand drivers beyond the Fourth of July holiday and World Cup contributed to one of the strongest weeks of occupancy and demand growth since April.
Global RevPAR up for a second straight week
For a second consecutive week, global RevPAR rose on a comparable, constant USD basis excluding the U.S., up 1.3% on a 2.6% ADR gain. The growth was driven by solid gains across Asia and Europe with India again leading with a 19.4% RevPAR increase.
Hotel RevPAR gains were also seen in Australia, the Caribbean, France, Japan, Spain and the U.K., ranging from up 5.9% in Japan to up 1.2% in Spain. Canada, Germany and Italy were slightly down whereas Mexico, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and China saw more significant declines with RevPAR falling 5.4%.
Canadian RevPAR would have been positive but Vancouver, a World Cup host city, saw RevPAR retreat 16.2% on match day and decrease by more than 22% over the weekend. Excluding Vancouver, Canadian RevPAR would have been up 2.4%. Despite a 19.6% ADR increase since the start of the World Cup on June 11, Vancouver’s RevPAR is down 3.1%. Toronto’s RevPAR, however, is up 8.8% during the same period.
Mexico’s three World Cup markets — Guadalajara, Mexico City, and Monterrey — were up collectively with a 45% RevPAR gain in the week, but they were unable to offset the declines in the country's remaining markets. Mexican Caribbean and Cancun again saw significant decreases.
Cole Martin is Analytics and Insights Specialist at STR and Isaac Collazo is senior director of analytics at STR.