STR: October U.S. Hotel Rates Rise Due To Rising Corporate Travel

According to the hospitality analytics company STR, average U.S. hotel daily rates and revenue per available room rose again in October, both month-over-month and year-over-year. The occupancy rate increased, but not to pre-pandemic levels.

The U.S. hotel occupancy rate in October was 67.2 percent, up 0.05 percentage points from the previous month but down 2.4 percent from October 2018. The ADR for the month of October was $155.63, up from $154.32 in September and up 16.8 percent from 2019 levels.

In October, RevPAR rose around 1.5 percent from September and 14 percent from 2018. STR said that its top 25 cities had better occupancy and average daily rates in October than other markets, which represented an increase in group and business travel demand.

In October, occupancy in New York City remained the highest among STR’s top 25 markets at 84.3 percent, down 6.8 percent from 2019. Minneapolis (60.3 percent), Houston (62.2 percent), and St. Louis (62.2 percent) had the lowest occupancy rates among the top 25 STR markets in October. In October, occupancy levels in San Francisco were 19 percent lower than in 2019.