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."
The U.S. hotel industry bounced back in the week of Jan. 11-17 as revenue per available room increased 1.6%. Room demand, occupancy and average daily rate all saw year-over-year growth from the comparable 2025 week.
One of the most straightforward strategies to help anticipate trends in hotel performance is to simply observe shifts in the calendar. By monitoring the movement of holidays, leveraging STR’s historical database with a couple of clever analysis tricks and tracking the average impact of specific days of the week, we can gain a better understanding of what to expect for both monthly and weekly trends across the industry this year.
Hospitality real estate fund managers are grappling with uninspiring capital deployment from 2025. Ongoing tariff uncertainty and softness in transient demand contributed to the inactivity of these fund managers, who gravitated toward opportunistic investments.
As the new year begins, Texas has nearly 15,000 rooms under construction across its major metropolitan areas and regional markets, with development most concentrated in Dallas, Austin and Houston.
Mixed-use developments are not a novel concept in commercial real estate. They often combine office, residential, retail, entertainment and hospitality within a single structure, several buildings in a block or in a planned district. These developments are typically found in urban centers or affluent suburban areas and can take the form of new construction or adaptive reuse.
The way hotel loans are performing in California is in transition, shaped by uneven operating recovery, rising debt costs and a growing bifurcation between stabilized properties and those still navigating long-term, built-in challenges.
The holiday season is typically one of the busiest times in Orlando, Florida. School-aged children on winter break line up to interact with Disney characters, try the newest thrill rides at Epic Universe and participate in seasonal events as theme parks are transformed with festive decorations.
Dallas entered 2026 with one of the largest hotel construction pipelines in the United States, driven primarily by rapid growth in the northern suburbs.
After a strong start to 2026 in the first week of the new year, tough comparisons for hurricane-impacted markets pushed U.S. revenue per available room down 3.3% year over year in the week ending Jan. 10.
Winter storms can shut down power, block roads and halt travel. But what does that mean for U.S. hotel performance from the first warning to the storm’s peak and eventual recovery?
International air travel to the U.S. declined in almost every month of 2025 as the new administration adopted more stringent enforcement on border crossings and global economic uncertainty prompted many leisure travelers to seek destinations closer to home.
A tropical vacation in the Caribbean sounds like a great idea, especially around the holiday season. The region’s turquoise waters, white sandy beaches, lush rainforests and volcanic landscapes attract millions of visitors from the United States, Canada and Europe looking to escape the winter cold. Additionally, the concentration of all-inclusive resorts in the region helps ensure a carefree vacation, typically paid in advance.
After dipping to a low in the third quarter of 2025, hotel openings in the Southeast ramped up again to close out the year. Between October and December, the region welcomed 29 new hotels totaling more than 3,800 rooms, representing a 35% year-over-year increase and a 37% jump over the previous quarter.
U.S. hotel performance started off strong in 2026 as revenue per available room increased by 7.9% in the week of Dec. 28 to Jan. 3. Hotel occupancy rose 2.1 percentage points and average daily rate jumped 3.4%. Room demand grew by 5.2%, largely driven by a 5.7% increase in transient demand.
The hotel CMBS market in the Southeast experienced shifts in 2025. The overall origination balance decreased compared to a year ago, although the number of loans originated increased year over year. The diverging trend suggests that the average CMBS loan size has shrunk due to a shift towards smaller deals amid a continuously challenging lending environment.
The national hotel development pipeline has remained muted in recent years. However, hotel construction activity in Florida shows no signs of stopping.
Travel planning is never easy. Picking a destination requires effort, and searching for attractions and points of interest can be draining. Most important, selecting accommodations that offer comfort, elevate the experience and fit a budget could be the most daunting task.
