STR Weekly Insights - 20-26 July 2025

Analysis by Chris Klauda, M. Brian Riley

All financial figures in U.S. dollar constant currency. 

Note: With next week’s focus on the Hotel Data Conference, the next issue of Weekly Insights will run on 15 August.  

Highlights

• RevPAR decline lessened but still down for the fifth consecutive week
• Last year’s tech outage impacted comps at the start of the week
• ADR stalled for a fourth consecutive week
• A better week in Las Vegas thanks to Beyoncé
• Global ADR slowed
• France shows Olympic comp

Nearly flat week was a welcome improvement

After two weeks of significant declines, it was a mostly flat week for the U.S. hotel industry with revenue per available room (RevPAR) down a 0.8%. Demand improved marginally, but, with a 0.9% increase in room supply, occupancy was down 0.2 percentage points (ppts). Occupancy has consistently declined faster than ADR this summer. Average daily rate (ADR) was flat (-0.1%), marking a four-week stretch of stalled rate growth for the country.  

Notable in the most recent week was the comparison to last year when the tech outage, which occurred on the previous Friday, lifted hotel performance over the weekend and into the early part of the following week. This year, Sunday showed a significant RevPAR decline (-4.7%) followed by a smaller drop on Monday (-2.1%), the result of the comp to last year. Midweek performance was soft, reflecting sluggish business demand, while the weekend improved (+1.7%), buoyed by leisure travel. 

Two markets pulled down the Top 25 RevPAR comp

The Top 25 Markets saw a greater weekly RevPAR decline (-1.7%) compared to the rest of the country posting basically flat RevPAR (-0.2%). Two markets pulled down the T25 comp.

• Houston experienced a 25.9% RevPAR decrease, impacted by a difficult comparison to last year when displacement demand was elevated by the Derecho storms/outages and Hurricane Beryl. 
• Los Angeles, with lower ADR and occupancy, saw a RevPAR decline of 10.5%. In particular, the Los Angeles CBD was down 29.5%, impacted by heightened tensions in the market. Both group and transient demand declined. 

Excluding Houston and L.A., Top 25 Market RevPAR was flat (0%) with occupancy down 0.8ppts and ADR up 1.0%.

Las Vegas had a better week

Las Vegas, which had reported negative RevPAR comps for 12 straight weeks, posted a 6.2% increase. The increase was entirely ADR-driven (+7.9%) while occupancy retreated 1.2ppts. Rate growth was lopsided with the weekend up and weekdays down. 

Weekend RevPAR (+42.7%) was lifted by numerous concerts, most notably Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter concert at Allegiant Stadium. There were several other well-attended concerts hosted on the weekend, including the Backstreet Boys and internationally renowned EDM artists.

Weekday RevPAR dropped 13.5%, impacted by conference calendar shifts and the tech outage comparable early in the week.

Most T25 Markets improved from their four-week average 

Most Top 25 Markets saw RevPAR improve from their recent four-week averages. Growth markets for the week ending 26 July included Chicago (+10.9%) and St. Louis (+9.1%). Both markets showed strong weekday and weekend performance.  

Orlando, Anaheim (Orange County) and New York City rounded out the markets with RevPAR gains above 5%. 

Markets experiencing a challenging four weeks were New Orleans, Boston and San Diego, all posting RevPAR declines each week. New Orleans has shown persistent decreases through most of the summer season. While admittedly out of its “high season,” NOLA remains one to monitor as the U.S. moves into fall’s convention season. Washington, D.C. has seen declines over the past three weeks with the latest decline in double digits (-12.5%).

Luxury unstoppable even on weekdays

Luxury hotels led all other chain scales and were the only segment to show RevPAR growth (+1.9%) for the week. In contrast, Economy hotels had the sharpest decline (-4.4%). The day-of-week split further reveals the strength of Luxury hotels. While weekday RevPAR across the other five chains scales declined, Luxury held positive. 

Weekend RevPAR growth was notably higher for Luxury chains followed at a distant second by Upper Upscale. 

Demand increased across all chain scales except Economy. However, supply growth has largely been outpacing demand and presents a challenge to maintain occupancy, particularly among Upper Midscale and higher chains.

Global RevPAR growth slowed as occupancy hit the highest level of 2025

Global RevPAR (excluding the U.S.) declined 1.5%, the result of decreases in occupancy (-0.5ppts) and ADR (-0.8%). These next few weeks represent peak travel season, and occupancy at 73.4% was the highest level of the year thus far. Peak occupancy is expected in two weeks. It is notable that occupancy has consistently declined each of the past five weeks. ADR comps have remained positive for most of the year with negative readings only four times. However, three of those negative readings have occurred in the past seven weeks—an indication that the pricing power across the globe is slowing. 

Japan, Canada, Spain and Indonesia have placed in the top four RevPAR gain positions across the key countries for the past two weeks. Japan and Indonesia’s strong performance is fueled entirely by ADR while RevPAR gains in Canada and Spain benefit from modest occupancy gains while most of the lift also comes from ADR.

Top performing markets across the globe are in the same four countries as recent weeks. The majority of markets in Canada and Spain experienced RevPAR gains. All markets in Japan posted gains. Half of the markets in Indonesia advanced RevPAR. 

In the United Kingdom, two markets stood out with better than 30% RevPAR gains – Aberdeen, hosting the Tall Ships Races, and Manchester, lifted by the last night of the Oasis tour and the five-day England vs. India Test cricket match. 

France (Olympics) and Germany (Euros) have experienced declines over the past four weeks due to the major event calendar shifts from last year. 

China’s RevPAR declined 5.1%. Among the four top-tier cities, Beijing and Guangzhou saw the greatest declines as they have over the past three weeks. Shanghai and Shenzhen posted flat RevPAR.

Looking Ahead

As we near the end of July, many U.S. school districts are already preparing for the start of the fall term, so it is expected that family travel will slow or be more reliant on shorter vacations. Demand/occupancy will start to decrease in August through September’s Labor Day holiday week. Leisure-oriented weekends should continue to have a small advantage over more business-oriented weekdays for the remainder of summer. Recent consumer sentiment surveys indicate that travelers’ perceptions and travel plans have both improved. This is perhaps seen as a vast opportunity for the industry as there are still millions of potential travelers who have either already planned or are open to scheduling new trips/hotel stays through the remaining warm weeks of summer. 

Globally, the summer season will continue a bit longer with the peak expected in two weeks. Thereafter, travel will slow until conference season picks up in mid-September. The recent RevPAR slowdown was expected. The magnitude of the slowdown will become more evident as we move into the last quarter to 2025.