The latest hotel industry analysis

Analysis by Kelsey Fenerty

All eyes have been on summer events, and perhaps one of the biggest reunion tours kicked off on 4 July, with Oasis returning to the stage in Cardiff, performing for over 70,000 fans. 

Small market, mighty room rates

Cardiff’s hotel supply is small, with just over 6,000 rooms in the market, and smaller markets tend to have much more volatility in average-daily-rate (ADR) growth, particularly over event periods. 

The Fourth of July holiday has long served as a key indicator of leisure travel and lodging demand in the U.S. Amid ongoing macroeconomic pressures and weakening hotel performance metrics, this year’s holiday weekend faced heightened scrutiny. Fortunately, the holiday passed the test when it came to hotel demand.   

Strong start to 2025, especially in South America

Each of the largest countries in the Americas region posted revenue per available room (RevPAR) growth during the May 2025 year-to-date (YTD) period. Three South American countries (Brazil, Peru and Chile) ranked at the top, reporting RevPAR gains during each month of 2025 thus far. The metric’s performance was lifted by both average daily rate (ADR) and occupancy.

Isaac Collazo, Senior Director of Analytics at STR, gives an overview of the 2025 U.S. hotel forecast revision.

An extended version of our U.S. Market Forecast Assumptions analysis can be found here.

Kelsey Fenerty, Manager of Analytics at STR, gives a quick overview of the global market forecast. 

An extended version of our Global Market Forecast Assumptions analysis can be found here.

U.S. hotel performance data for 8-14 June came in lower than projected with a third straight week of hotel demand declines at a time when the early-summer travel season was expected to lift performance. 

Like any time when increases or decreases begin to form a trend, it’s important to go beyond national averages and dig deeper into the market segments as the story is not the same across the board.  

Analysis by Hannah Smith

Amid ongoing macroeconomic pressures, waning consumer confidence, and shorter booking windows, hotel performance for the upcoming Fourth of July holiday is drawing more scrutiny than in past years. Industry analysts are watching closely to gauge how well the sector navigates this important summer leisure travel period. Fortunately, our forward-looking data offers encouraging signs and reasons for optimism.

This past weekend, the United States kicked off its duties as host of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup (CWC), a precursor to next year’s World Cup, which will be hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico.  

This year’s 63-match tournament kicked off in Miami on 14 June and culminates with the title game in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on 9 July. Overall, matches will be played in a total of 11 U.S. markets: 

April performance across the Asia Pacific hotel industry was positive as 10 of the region’s 16 largest countries grew occupancy, average daily rate (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPAR). In fact, all but three countries—China, Singapore and Thailand—experienced RevPAR gains. 

Market Forecasts, produced by STR and Tourism Economics, provide you with the insights needed to anticipate future performance. 

U.S. Topline

The top-line U.S. RevPAR forecast has been downgraded 80-basis points to +1.0%. The downgrade is driven by a combination of calendar shifts, weakening macroeconomic indicators, and uncertainty caused by erratic tariff implementation and large-scale federal job losses as well as increasingly soft international inbound travel.