U.S. hotel performance extended its growth streak for a sixth consecutive week during the week of May 10-16, with revenue per available room (RevPAR) increasing 5.4% year over year.
Growth continued to be driven primarily by rates, as average daily rate (ADR) rose 3.9%, with pricing strength concentrated in higher-end chain scales and large urban markets.
U.S. weekly hotel ADR has grown year over year in every week since the start of the war in Iran, averaging 3.2%. Room demand increased 1.9%, lifting hotel occupancy one percentage point to 68.2%, the highest weekly level recorded so far in 2026.
For just the fourth time this year, all major performance metrics — RevPAR, ADR, occupancy and demand — grew across each day of the week, signaling broad-based strength rather than isolated event-driven gains. Weekday performance drove most of improvement, with Sunday through Thursday accounting for 89% of the 500,000 increase in hotel rooms sold. Weekday RevPAR rose 6.5%, supported by a 4.3% gain in ADR, driven largely by higher-rated segments benefiting from business and group demand. In contrast, weekend RevPAR increased 3.4%, led almost entirely by ADR (+3.2%) as demand remained relatively flat (+0.6%).
K-shaped performance trends persisted for a third consecutive week, with all hotel chain scales except economy posting gains across RevPAR, ADR and occupancy. Luxury hotels continued to lead overall growth, with RevPAR increasing 7.9% over the past three weeks, driven by 6.2% ADR growth. Upscale and upper-upscale segments accounted for most demand gains, contributing 81% of the increase in rooms sold. Economy hotels lag the other classes, but the upper end of the K-shaped trend has overshadowed the 1.1% RevPAR decline for these hotels over this time. As a result, overall U.S. hotel industry performance remains disproportionately driven by ADR growth at the upper end of the market.
Group demand for luxury and upper-upscale hotels increased 3.3% year over year, further supporting weekday performance gains and reflecting continued recovery in business-related travel demand within larger markets.
Major markets led overall performance, with 20 of the top 25 markets posting RevPAR growth and six recording double-digit increases. Combined RevPAR across the top 25 markets rose 6.6%, driven by a 50% increase in ADR. Weekly ADR in these markets reached $216, marking the highest aggregate weekly level of the year.
Orlando hotels recorded the largest performance gains of the week, with RevPAR increasing 23.8% year over year, driven by both event-related and business travel demand. The market hosted the Rolling Loud music festival, which relocated from Miami after nine years, alongside multiple business conferences that contributed to a 27% increase in group demand.
Philadelphia and Atlanta also recorded strong event-driven performance. Philadelphia experienced a 16.4% increase in RevPAR, supported by a 10.2% rise in ADR, as the 2026 PGA Championship concentrated demand and drove compression across the broader metro area, including surrounding submarkets. In Atlanta, the 2026 DreamHack esports event contributed to a 14.3% increase in RevPAR, supported by multi-day transient demand tied to event-related travel.
Outside the top 25 U.S. hotel markets, demand growth generally matched that of larger markets, but weaker ADR growth (+2.9%) limited overall performance gains. Results were more varied across these markets, with performance largely tied to localized event activity. Eleven markets recorded RevPAR increases exceeding 20%, while four saw occupancy gains of more than 10 percentage points, underscoring the outsized impact of event-driven demand in smaller markets.
Overall, last week’s performance reflected a continuation of rate-led growth in major markets alongside more event-dependent gains across smaller markets. Sustained pricing strength, particularly in higher-end segments and large urban markets, continues to drive overall industry performance, while secondary markets remain more reliant on discrete demand drivers to generate outsize week-to-week gains.
Looking ahead, if U.S. hotel demand remains elevated, hoteliers could see strong RevPAR growth over the next two weeks given the weakness seen last year.
RevPAR flat across the world with pockets of strong growth
Comparable global RevPAR on a constant USD basis was flat this week (-0.1%) on falling occupancy (-1.6 percentage points). ADR rose by 2.2%, nearly the same as in the previous week. As has been the case, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries held back stronger global results as GCC RevPAR was down 37%; the smallest decrease of the past eight weeks.
Other countries seeing hotel performance weakness during the week of May 10-16 included France, Germany and Mexico. The latter continued to see demand weakness in key destinations including Cancun, Mexican Caribbean and Pacific Central markets. Only five of the 14 hotel markets in Mexico saw RevPAR growth this week, including Mexico City, which was up 3% on increasing demand.
Germany’s RevPAR decline was led by decreases in Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich and Stuttgart, where the measure fell by an average of 24% on falling occupancy and ADR. Hotels across the rest of Germany saw RevPAR rise by 5.2% on strong ADR growth (+14.2%), which came from Dusseldorf where RevPAR rose by 97% on due to very strong ADR growth (+91%). Excluding the four markets mentioned earlier and Dusseldorf, RevPAR in the remaining eight markets in Germany rose 1.3%.
Canadian hotel RevPAR advanced for a fifth consecutive week, up 8.1% on rising ADR (+6.3%). Since April 2025, RevPAR in Canada has grown in 45 of the past 54 weeks, averaging 6.2% weekly, mostly on increasing ADR.
The Caribbean, India, Italy and Japan also had a strong week. RevPAR in Italy was up nearly 13% this week on ADR. RevPAR has increased every week of the year, except one with the year-to-date average up 14%.
Cole Martin is Analytics and Insights Specialist at STR and Isaac Collazo is senior director of analytics at STR.