U.S. Hotel Industry Faces Continued Decline as Global Markets Show Mixed Results

U.S. hotel industry faces continued challenges with declining occupancy rates, while global markets show mixed results.

U.S. Hotel Industry Struggles with Declining RevPAR

The U.S. hotel industry faced another challenging week, with revenue per available room (RevPAR) declining by 1.4% for the week ending 20 September 2025. This marks a continuation of a downward trend that has persisted for much of the year. The primary factor driving this decline is a drop in occupancy rates, which fell by 0.7 percentage points. The average daily rate (ADR) also saw a minor decrease of 0.3%.

RevPAR has been down year-over-year for 16 out of the 20 days in September and has declined in 100 of the last 143 days since May. The persistent decline in occupancy, which has been down for 118 days since May, is a significant contributor. Although ADR has shown some resilience, it has only surpassed 1% growth 40 times during this period and exceeded the inflation rate of approximately 2.7% on just five occasions.

Top 25 Markets Impacting National RevPAR

The Top 25 Markets (T25) continue to be a significant factor in the national RevPAR decline, with a 2.8% decrease. Houston, while not the largest decliner this week, still had a notable impact on the T25 aggregate, contributing 50 basis points to the T25 decrease and 30 basis points to the national drop. New Orleans experienced the largest decline among the T25 markets, with a 22.4% drop, primarily due to a weekend fall linked to football events.

Other markets, such as Oahu, Miami, and Washington, D.C., also experienced significant declines in RevPAR, exceeding 10% during the week. The weakening occupancy rates were a common factor in these declines, although ADR also decreased in both weekday and weekend metrics in these markets.

Mixed Performance Across Other U.S. Markets

Outside the T25 markets, the Louisiana North market posted the highest RevPAR gain of any market, with a 22.5% increase driven by strong occupancy gains. Cities such as Shreveport, Bossier City, and Alexandria experienced double-digit occupancy increases, contributing to the market’s overall growth.

Buffalo also reported a significant RevPAR increase of 21.7%, benefiting from a Thursday night NFL game. However, the annual movement of college football games negatively impacted markets like Columbia, SC, which saw a 45.5% decline in RevPAR following a similar gain the previous week.

In total, 87 U.S. markets experienced a decline in RevPAR for the week, compared to 93 the previous week, with most seeing a decrease of less than 2 percent.

Global Markets Show Mixed Results

Globally, RevPAR outside the U.S. increased by 5.6% for the week, although this was slightly less than the previous week. The growth was primarily driven by occupancy increases, with ADR growth limited to 1%. China’s ADR growth was particularly slow, affected by the impact of last year’s Mid-Autumn Festival, while occupancy rebounded strongly.

In Europe, France and Germany reported strong RevPAR growth, with Germany’s increase driven by events such as the drinktec trade fair and the BMW Berlin Marathon. Canada continued its positive trend, with RevPAR rising by 3.4%, driven mainly by ADR growth.

Conversely, markets such as Australia, Italy, and Mexico experienced declines, with Mexico seeing a sharp 16% decrease, largely due to a significant drop in Mexico City.

Outlook for the U.S. Market

The short-term outlook for the U.S. hotel industry remains challenging. The upcoming weeks are expected to be difficult due to key Jewish observances and comparisons to last year’s Hurricane Helene. Although the month-to-date RevPAR for September shows a 0.8% gain, this is largely due to a calendar shift, and on a day-matched basis, RevPAR is down 1.3%. Globally, however, RevPAR is expected to rise.

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