Hotel revenue per available room fell 0.3% in the United States in 2025, a figure "that was actually better than what we thought," said STR's Isaac Collazo on the latest episode of "Tell Me More: A Hospitality Data Podcast."
Collazo and CoStar Group's Jan Freitag crunched the year-end hotel performance numbers on this episode. The standout surprise that regular listeners could see coming was the role luxury hotel performance played in the overall numbers.
U.S. luxury hotels notched 5.7% RevPAR growth in 2025 year over year. Only one other hotel class finished 2025 in the black when it comes to RevPAR — upper-upscale, with 0.7% growth — and even that wasn't even close. Every other class experienced year-over-year RevPAR losses.
"U.S. RevPAR would have decreased 0.9% versus 0.3%" if not for luxury's contribution, Collazo said.
Another repeating chorus: sluggish average daily rate.
For the full year, U.S. hotel ADR increased 0.9%, which Collazo reminded listeners was once again well below the 2.9% inflation rate.
"Every month except January [2025] saw ADR growth below the rate of inflation, and over the last two years, ADR has only been at or above the rate of inflation three times," he said. "Total revenues continue to lag total operating expenses."
Freitag predicted that "conversations are all going to be about cost control and margins" at the upcoming Americas Lodging Investment Summit, because "margins are under pressure."
Also in this episode:
- Freitag unpacks his "Five expectations for the hotel industry in 2026," which focus on bifurcation holding, uneven World Cup demand, and pickups in renovations and hotel deal volume.
- Collazo dissects hotel supply drivers in 2025, sharing data on new hotel openings versus property conversions.
- The co-hosts participate in the viral #2016 social media trend, talking about what makes them nostalgic for 2016 in the hotel industry.