STR Weekly Insights: 31 August – 6 September 2025

Analysis by Isaac Collazo and Brannan Doyle

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

Highlights

• U.S. RevPAR down again—worst 10-week stretch since early-2021
• Weekday RevPAR up via Labor Day gain
• College football impact visible in many markets
• Global RevPAR growth continued but slowed
• Italy, Japan, France and India all up by double figures
• Canada and Mexico shows some seasonality
• Two clean calendar weeks ahead

Nothing new, RevPAR weakened again

U.S. revenue per available room (RevPAR) dropped 0.7% in the week ending 6 September 2025. This was the measure’s 19th weekly drop this year and 12th in the past 16 weeks. Like what we have seen with most of the declines, falling occupancy drove the RevPAR retreat. However, average daily rate (ADR) at -0.2% also contributed to this week’s decrease.

In aggregate, the Top 25 Markets (T25) saw RevPAR decrease 1.5% whereas the remaining markets were nearly flat (-0.1%). This is also nothing new as the T25 has seen weaker RevPAR results compared to the remaining markets for 11 consecutive weeks. 

Houston and Las Vegas continued to be large contributors to the T25’s weak stature. In the most recent week, those markets accounted for 1.1 percentage points (ppts) of the decrease in the Top 25 Markets. Recall, Houston’s declining performance is a result of difficult comps to last year’s early summer storms and flooding. Las Vegas’ decline is due to the decrease in international travelers and the lackluster economic environment. 

In total, 16 T25 markets saw RevPAR reverse, an amount that was like the past 10 weeks. Houston saw the largest decrease (-18.7%), mostly on falling occupancy. San Francisco saw the largest increase (+24.7%) on nearly equal gains in occupancy and ADR. 

Overall, 84 markets saw RevPAR decrease, as compared to 88 in the prior week and 87 before that. Despite the number of U.S. markets with negative RevPAR comps improving slightly, the overall trend for the count of markets with negative weekly occupancy and ADR comps continues to rise slowly. 

Historical context

For 10 weeks in a row, weekly RevPAR percentage changes have been +0.5% or less.

The last time that the U.S. saw a 10-week stretch of similarly tepid weekly RevPAR performance (+0.5% or less) was early in 2021. The previous two instances were in late-2009 and mid-2002. 

Labor Day drove weekday RevPAR growth

With the week including Labor Day, we were surprised that weekday (Monday – Wednesday) RevPAR was up (+0.1%) on an ADR gain—driven by San Francisco and San Diego. RevPAR was also up on Labor Day (+1.1%). 

Daily RevPAR has only increased 1% or more 21 times during the past 12 weeks (84 days), including three times the past two weeks. Shoulder days (Sunday & Thursday) were down the most (-1.6%) because of Sunday. Weekend RevPAR was also down (-0.8%). 

However, with the return of college football, several markets saw large weekend growth, including Oklahoma City (+72.5%), Wisconsin North (+47.3%) and Missouri North (+43.2%). But given game calendars shift from year to year, it was not surprising that there were nearly the same number of markets that saw double-digit gains as there were that saw double-digit decreases. 

No change in hotel class bifurcation

Among hotel classes, Luxury capitalized the most on weekdays with RevPAR up 4%. Economy class hotels saw nearly the same level of decrease. Upper Upscale also saw a weekday RevPAR gain. Over the weekend, only Luxury class hotels reported RevPAR growth (+2.9%) as all other classes were down with Economy seeing the largest decrease (-5.6%) on nearly equal declines in occupancy and ADR. 

As in previous weeks, Economy class hotels continued to be impacted by their exposure in Top 25 Markets. In the most recent week, RevPAR in Economy class hotels in the Top 25 Markets fell 9.3% versus 3.7% elsewhere. Over the past eight weeks, RevPAR in Economy class hotels in Top 25 Markets has retreated by 10.8% on equal decreases in occupancy and ADR. Elsewhere and like this week, the decrease has been just under 4%.

Global RevPAR slowed but remained well ahead of the U.S.

Global same-store RevPAR, excluding the U.S., advanced 3.7%, a slower rate than a week ago as occupancy decreased but ADR advanced strongly. Italy, France, Japan, and India all saw double-digit RevPAR growth while China and Indonesia posted double-digit decreases. 

Canadian same-store RevPAR advanced 3.6% versus the 8.7% gain a week ago. After seven weeks with occupancy at or above 80%, this week’s measure dropped to 67.9%. All Canadian markets saw a slowing in the measure, however, most markets recorded an occupancy increase, including Toronto, pointing to seasonality in the measure and likely nothing more. 

Like in Canada, Mexico’s same-store RevPAR also slowed (+3.7%) with occupancy flat but nearly 10 points lower than a week ago. This too is likely based on seasonality.

Two clean weeks for growth 

We expect the next two weeks ending 13 September and 20 September to be positive as they are the only two “clean calendar” weeks this month. The week ending 27 September will be impacted by Rosh Hashana, which begins at sundown on Monday, 22 September and ends at sundown Wednesday, 24 September, bringing conference and business travel to a crawl. 

Nine days later, travel will be impacted, to a lesser extent, by Yom Kippur, which begins on 1 October. Also keep in mind that U.S. results, especially in the southeast, will see difficult comps starting 25 September due to Hurricane Helene’s landfall a year earlier. Hurricane Milton comps will also be a factor in October.