STR Reports U.S. Performance for September 2009

U.S. hotel industry posted declines in all three key performance measurements during September

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. October 27, 2009

OCTOBER 23, 2009 - In year-over-year measurements, the industry's occupancy fell 6.3 percent to end the month at 56.7 percent. Average daily rate dropped 10.2 percent to finish the month at US$96.67. Revenue per available room for the month decreased 15.9 percent to finish at US$54.78.

"September results, while in line with our forecast, made it clear that an unforeseen early recovery in lodging industry fundamentals does not seem imminent" said Mark Lomanno, president of STR. "While demand has begun to stabilize in the important Middle and South Atlantic regions, average room rates continue to be a drag on revenue generation. We will be very closely watching 4 quarter results anticipating incremental improvement in key indicators, even though we fully expect most results to still be negative."

Among the Top 25 Markets, Norfolk-Virginia Beach, Virginia, was the only market to report increases in all three metrics: Occupancy for the month was up 4.4 percent to 53.2, ADR rose 1.0 percent to US$85.75, and RevPAR jumped 5.5 percent to US$45.58.

Oahu Island, Hawaii, experienced the largest increase in occupancy, which jumped 7.5 percent to 74.7 percent. Other Top 25 Markets to post occupancy increases include: Anaheim-Santa Ana, California (+3.4 percent to 61.7 percent); New York, New York (+1.0 percent to 85.0 percent); Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida (+1.0 percent to 43.9 percent); and San Francisco/San Mateo, California (+0.2 percent to 82.8 percent). Houston, Texas, reported the largest occupancy decrease, falling 26.2 percent to 50.2 percent, followed by New Orleans, Louisiana (-26.0 percent to 42.5 percent), and Dallas, Texas (-21.1 percent to 50.6 percent).

Besides Norfolk-Virginia Beach, none of the Top 25 Markets posted ADR increases for the month. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota-Wisconsin reported the largest ADR decrease, dropping 23.6 percent to US$92.15, followed by New York with a 23.2-percent decline to US$249.24.

Four markets experienced RevPAR decreases of 30 percent or more: New Orleans (-38.3 percent to US$37.70); Houston (-38.1 percent to US$44.57); Minneapolis-St. Paul (-32.8 percent US$57.35); and Dallas (-30.2 percent to US$42.57).