The 22-week streak of year-over-year revenue per available room (RevPAR) growth came to an end for U.S. hotels in the week of Sept. 6-12 as RevPAR fell 6.2%.
The result was due to the Labor Day holiday falling one week later this year. The same calendar shift drove a 16.3% RevPAR increase in the previous week.
U.S. hotel demand this week fell 4.3%, pushing occupancy down three percentage points and contributing to the nation's first average daily rate (ADR) decline since March (-1.7%). The impact was concentrated on the weekdays, where RevPAR dropped 9.9% year over year amid reduced corporate and group travel activity surrounding Labor Day. In contrast, weekend performance remained comparatively resilient, with RevPAR increasing 1.5%. Weekend demand rose 1.7%, although growth was likely moderated by the Rosh Hashanah observance, which began on Friday evening and ended Sunday evening.
The impact was particularly evident among luxury and upper-upscale hotels, where group demand fell by approximately 715,000 room nights from the same week last year, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the industry's overall demand decline. The top 25 U.S. hotel markets experienced the largest effects of this slowdown in business travel, combining for a 10.6% RevPAR decrease as occupancy fell 4.8 percentage points. Group demand among luxury and upper-upscale hotels in the top 25 markets declined 37.2%, with every major market except New York reporting a year-over-year decrease. In contrast, markets outside the top 25 posted a much smaller RevPAR decline of 2.6%, highlighting how the difficult comparison was concentrated in destinations that rely more heavily on corporate and group travel.
While the weekly comparison interrupted U.S. hotels' longest stretch of RevPAR growth since early 2025, broader summer and Labor Day period results suggest that underlying travel demand remained historically strong through the close of the season.
Additionally, the two-week period that includes the Labor Day holiday in both years shows RevPAR up 3.9% on nearly equal gains in occupancy and ADR.
A record Labor Day week
While the week was down significantly year over year, when compared to all other Labor Day weeks, 2026 was solid. Hotels sold a record 24.9 million room nights, surpassing the previous high of 24.2 million room nights set in 2022 and finishing 8.6% above the comparable Labor Day week in 2025. Occupancy (62.3%) ranked as the fourth-highest Labor Day week on record, increasing 4.7 percentage points year over year and reaching its strongest level since 2017.
Revenue metrics were equally impressive. Industry room revenue exceeded $4 billion for the first time during a Labor Day week, increasing 16.1% over Labor Day week in 2025 and setting a new nominal record for the holiday week. ADR climbed 7% year over year, while RevPAR increased 15.8%, pushing both metrics to their highest nominal Labor Day week levels on record. On an inflation-adjusted basis, ADR ranked tenth and RevPAR ranked sixth among all Labor Day weeks since 2000, while inflation-adjusted room revenue finished as the second-highest on record behind 2022.
Labor Day weekend also saw record hotel demand
Like the week, the 2026 Labor Day holiday weekend (Friday-Sunday) also delivered a record 12.4 million room nights, up 3.6% increase over the same weekend in 2025. Hotel occupancy reached 72.5%, up 2.3 percentage points from last year and ranking as the eighth-highest Labor Day weekend occupancy since 2000. ADR increased 3.9% year over year, while RevPAR rose 7.2% to its highest nominal Labor Day weekend level on record. After adjusting for inflation, ADR ranked as the fifth-highest Labor Day weekend result and RevPAR ranked seventh.
Summer 2026 delivered historically strong results
Overall, the summer of 2026 produced one of the strongest U.S. lodging performance periods of the past two decades. After normalizing for the unusually long 108-day span between Memorial Day and Labor Day this year, total room demand ranked as the third highest summer on record, trailing only 2018 and 2019. At the same time, hotels saw the highest nominal summer ADR and RevPAR levels on record, with ADR increasing 4.6% and RevPAR rising 5.8% year over year. This marked the strongest summer RevPAR growth since 2014 outside the pandemic.
U.S. hotel occupancy painted a more moderate picture. At 68.3%, summer occupancy ranked 18th among the past 27 years and remained well below the 72.8% peak reached in 2018. As a result, the summer of 2026 was less a story of record hotel occupancy and more one of continued pricing power, with ADR growth accounting for the majority of the U.S. hotels' RevPAR gains despite demand reaching one of its highest levels on record. Major events, most notably from the FIFA World Cup, helped hotels capitalize on that demand, contributing to the season's record ADR and RevPAR performance.
A good end to a remarkable season
Taken together, the summer season, Labor Day weekend, and Labor Day week results suggest that the decline seen in the week of Sept. 6-12 was primarily a consequence of holiday calendar timing rather than weakening travel demand. Record Labor Day demand, record holiday-week revenue and one of the strongest summers on record underscore the industry's continued strength through the end of the travel season.
Hotels outside the US see another good week
Most comparable hotels outside the U.S. saw growth this week as global RevPAR — on a constant USD basis — increased 3.5% on a 4.2% gain in ADR. Occupancy fell (-0.5 percentage points) for the first time in four weeks as several large hotel countries, including Canada, China, and Japan saw the measure retreat. Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) had the largest occupancy and RevPAR declines (-8.4 percentage points and -15.8%, respectively) as they have had since the beginning of the U.S. war with Iran.
RevPAR continued to decline in Mexico (-6.1%) but it lessened from the previous week. Cancun, Mexican Caribbean, and the Pacific South saw double-digit decreases with lesser declines across most of the country. Gulf of Mexico hotels along with those in Yucatan/Campeche and Baja California saw RevPAR growth of more than 5%.
Like last week, double-digit hotel RevPAR gains were seen in France, India and Spain with Australia joining them this week.
Cole Martin is Analytics and Insights Specialist at STR and Isaac Collazo is senior director of analytics at STR.