STR: U.S. hotel room rates hit all-time high

U.S. weekly hotel occupancy reached its highest level since October 2019, while room rates hit an all-time high, according to STR's latest data. For the week of July 18-24, occupancy was 71.4 percent, down 7.8 percent from the comparable week in 2019. Average daily rate was $141.75, up 4 percent, while revenue per available room was $101.24, down 4.2 percent.

Historically, the middle weeks of July are the country’s highest occupancy weeks each year, and 2021 has been no different even as demand slows week to week, according to the company. 

ADR, while an all-time high on a nominal basis, comes in at a real value of $136 when adjusted for inflation. That would be shy of the record from 2019. Both occupancy and ADR played a role in RevPAR reaching it highest level since July 2019 on a nominal basis. 

Top Markets

Among the top 25 markets, Tampa saw the only occupancy increase over 2019, up 2.9 percent to 78.5 percent. San Francisco/San Mateo experienced the steepest decline in occupancy when compared with 2019 (-35.2 percent to 58.3 percent). 

Miami reported the largest ADR (up 52 percent to $237.49) and RevPAR (up 49.3 percent to $183.66) increases over 2019. The largest RevPAR drops were in San Francisco/San Mateo (down 54.4 percent to $97.93) and Washington, D.C. (down 43.4 percent to $69.86).