The end-of-year holiday slowdown is settling in.
It was a difficult week for U.S. hotels as revenue per available room dropped 3.7% in the week of Nov. 30 to Dec. 6. Occupancy again led the decline, falling 1.9 percentage points. Absolute room demand dropped by more than 580,000 rooms, and average daily rate decreased 0.5%. Weekday (Sunday to Thursday) RevPAR retreated by 4.3%, led by occupancy declining 2.2 percentage points. Weekend (Friday and Saturday) RevPAR was also down but at half the rate of weekdays.
Hurricane markets pull down RevPAR comps further
As has been noted in previous analyses, the 13 hurricane markets affected by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton in 2024 continued to have the largest bearing on U.S. performance, accounting for more than a point of the RevPAR decrease this week. Las Vegas was also a big contributor. Excluding both the 13 hurricane markets and Las Vegas, U.S. RevPAR was down 1.7%, occupancy fell 1.1 percentage points and ADR was flat (+0.2%). Weekday RevPAR among the remaining markets was also still down, but the 2.4% drop was less severe than the total U.S. results. Weekend RevPAR was nearly flat.
As a reminder, the hurricane market decline is due to decreasing room demand. A year ago, weekly demand in these markets was up 17.1%, whereas it is down 16% this week. Twelve of the 13 markets saw demand fall by more than 10% with only Macon/Warner Robbins, Georgia, up (+0.2%). Overall, hurricane markets accounted for 41% of the total U.S. room demand decline this week and 84% of the gross loss over the past six weeks.
Top 25 had its share of winners
While many markets saw RevPAR retreat, 11 of the top 25 markets reported RevPAR gains in the week led by New Orleans (+7%) and followed by St. Louis (+5%). Other winners included Anaheim (Orange County), Detroit, Nashville, Orlando, Phoenix, San Diego and San Francisco. The growth in most of these markets came from increased group demand. Collectively, group demand in luxury and upper upscale hotels was up 5.5% in these markets, with RevPAR increasing by 6.8% on equal gains in occupancy and ADR.
On the other end of the spectrum and among the top 25 markets, Tampa, a hurricane market, saw the largest RevPAR decrease (-28.7). That was followed by Seattle (-24.6%), and lesser but still double-digit declines in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Falling group demand, except in Tampa, was a key driver in these markets. The measure was down 35% collectively among luxury and upper upscale hotels, resulting in a 13.5% RevPAR decrease. The steep decrease in group demand was likely due to conference shifts.
Among markets outside the top 25, Wisconsin North saw the largest weekly RevPAR increase, up 36%, followed by Texas North, Louisiana North and four other markets where RevPAR grew by more than 11%. Weekend RevPAR was led by Wisconsin North (+96.8%) and followed by Buffalo, Milwaukee and the New Jersey Shore, where the measure was up by more than 20%. Both Buffalo and Milwaukee benefited from NFL football games.
Speaking of football, weekend RevPAR in the 95 college football markets tracked fell 1.7% over the 14 weeks of the regular season on declining occupancy and flat ADR. Among the larger football markets with 50,000-plus seat stadiums (51 markets), weekend RevPAR was down 1.4% this season.
Group demand down again
While some markets benefitted from group demand, the overall measure among luxury and upper upscale class hotels was down 7.9% from a year ago. In the 19 markets with convention/exhibit space of 500,000-plus gross square feet, group demand was down 5.9% this past week. Orlando was the big winner as group demand there shot up 17.3%. Over the past six weeks, group demand in the big convention markets is down 0.8% but up 1.2% in the next set of convention markets — 44 markets with exhibit space of 100,000 to 499,000 gross square feet.
Among branded hotels, luxury hotels in that size bracket saw RevPAR advance 1.6% during the week on ADR (+4.9%) as occupancy was down 2.1 percentage points. Upper upscale hotels saw a similar occupancy decrease but their ADR growth (+0.4%) was insufficient to offset the occupancy drop, resulting in a 2.7% RevPAR decline. RevPAR in the remaining chain scales ranged from down 3.8% in upper midscale to down 8.6% in economy.
November shows the largest RevPAR decline post-pandemic
From preliminary data, U.S. November hotel RevPAR is estimated to have dropped by 2.4%, the largest post-pandemic RevPAR decline and the sixth consecutive monthly decrease. Of the past eight months, RevPAR has only been positive one time and that’s because the measure was flat (0.0%). November’s retreat was led by occupancy, which also saw its largest post-pandemic decline. ADR was of little assistance as it was up by only 0.5%. As with the weekly results, the totals do not tell the entire story.
First, the month was negatively affected by an additional Sunday, which has the weakest RevPAR of the seven days, and the loss of a Friday, the second-highest RevPAR day. To underscore this shift on a day-matched basis — Sat., Nov. 1, 2025, to Sun., Nov. 30, 2025, versus Sat., Nov. 2, 2024, to Sun., Dec. 1, 2024 — November RevPAR was down by only 0.3%.
Second, the 13 hurricane markets were a significant drag on the month and will continue to be. If you exclude those markets, November RevPAR fell 1.3%, which is like the decreases seen June through September.
Third, if you remove the 13 hurricane markets and Las Vegas, the rest of the country saw November RevPAR drop 0.9%, which is also in line with previous months.
Global RevPAR growth moderates
After two weeks of high single-digit gains, global RevPAR on a same-store basis and excluding the U.S. moderated to 5% growth, all on ADR, since occupancy was flat. RevPAR growth was again led by the Gulf Cooperative Council, where RevPAR advanced by 14.5%, followed by Australia, India, Japan and Italy, which all saw double-digit growth. Of the large countries, only Canada, China and Mexico saw RevPAR decrease this week.
GCC has seen double-digit same-store RevPAR gains in five of the past six weeks. This week, strong ADR-led RevPAR growth was seen in Bahrain (+47.1%) and Qatar (+38.7%). The latter saw performance surge on the Formula 1 grand prix, Doha Forum, FIFA Arab Cup and more. The United Arab Emirates saw RevPAR advance 17.1% followed by Oman and Kuwait, where the measure increased by more than 10% in each country. The only country to see a decline this week was Saudi Arabia (-5.2%).
Canadian same-store RevPAR fell 12.8% on an 11.4% ADR decrease. Most markets saw growth, but the three largest ones (Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver) saw the measure fall with Vancouver’s RevPAR dropping by more than 58.8% on a 55.8% ADR decrease. The reason is simple: Taylor Swift. Last year, she performed the final three shows of the Eras Tour there, beginning on Fri., Dec. 6. Falling occupancy led to the declines in Montreal and Toronto.
Same-store RevPAR in Mexico was down 2.6% on equal declines in occupancy and ADR. Large decreases were seen in several key tourist destinations including Yucatan/Campeche, Mexico Caribbean, Baja California and Gulf of Mexico. The latter two markets saw RevPAR decline by 10.8% and 21.1%, respectively. Mexico City, Mexico Northwest and Pacific South all reported RevPAR gains of more than 8% this week.
Unlike in the U.S., global demand and RevPAR are on a trajectory for continued growth through the end of the year and into 2026.
Isaac Collazo is senior director of analytics at STR.
This article represents an interpretation of data collected by CoStar's hospitality analytics firm, STR. Please feel free to contact an editor with any questions or concerns. For more analysis of STR data, visit the data insights blog on STR.com.