Dive Brief:
- For the week ending July 4, U.S. hotels saw positive year-over-year performance comparisons, with occupancy and ADR up 3.9% and 6.7%, respectively, resulting in RevPAR growth of 10.9%, according to a CoStar report.
- Among the top 25 markets, Washington, D.C., saw the highest year-over-year increases in ADR and RevPAR during the week, while Detroit reported the largest occupancy gain and the second-highest RevPAR increase. Philadelphia also saw strong ADR and RevPAR growth during the week, per the report.
- Hotel performance gains were driven in part by celebrations around America’s 250th anniversary and the ongoing World Cup tournament, which runs through July 19, according to CoStar.
Dive Insight:
Overall, RevPAR increased in 21 of the top 25 U.S. markets during the week ending July 4. Washington, D.C., saw “a lift from the America 250 celebrations,” leading other markets with RevPAR increasing 57.3% year over year, per CoStar. The country’s capital also saw ADR rise 34.8% year over year to $209.40.
In Detroit, RevPAR rose 41% year over year. And Philadelphia, which also hosted America 250 events, saw the third-highest RevPAR jump of 38.9%, the report detailed.
AAA previously estimated that 72.2 million Americans would travel during the week, though Washington, D.C., Detroit and Philadelphia were not among the company’s anticipated top 10 Independence Day domestic travel destinations. The agency projected Seattle, Orlando, Florida, and Anchorage, Alaska, as the top destinations.
Also helping Philadelphia's performance gains during the week was a World Cup match, CoStar detailed. The week prior, ending June 27, the tournament gave host cities Miami and San Francisco a performance boost as well, per another CoStar report.
Despite hotel bookings tracking below initial expectations in the month leading up to the World Cup, host cities averaged RevPAR increases “well above 20%” in the first three weeks of the tournament, outpacing initial forecasts, Didio Pequeno, director of hospitality market analytics at CoStar, told Hotel Dive earlier this month.
