U.S. Hotel Industry Faces Challenges Amidst Global Growth Surge

U.S. hotel performance faced challenges from hurricane-affected markets, while global RevPAR sees significant growth, particularly in the Middle East.

The latest STR Weekly Insights report, covering the period from November 16 to November 29, 2025, highlights mixed performance in the hotel industry. While the U.S. market struggles with hurricane-related aftermath, global markets, especially in the Middle East, show robust growth. This article delves into the report’s key findings, examining trends in RevPAR, occupancy, and ADR across regions and market segments.

U.S. Market Performance

In the United States, the hotel industry’s performance over the two weeks ending November 29, 2025, was marked by a slight 0.3% decline in revenue per available room (RevPAR). This decline was attributed to a 0.7 percentage point drop in occupancy, despite a 0.9% increase in the average daily rate (ADR). The impact of hurricanes Helene and Milton, which struck in September 2024, continues to affect year-over-year comparisons, particularly in the 13 affected markets. Excluding these hurricane-impacted areas, RevPAR increased by 0.9% over the fortnight.

The report notes that occupancy declines, a persistent issue throughout the year, have slowed significantly when excluding hurricane markets. Occupancy was nearly flat over the past two weeks, with only a 0.1 percentage point drop. However, ADR growth remains below the inflation rate, rising by just 1.1%.

Among the Top 25 Markets, cities like Dallas, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and St. Louis experienced strong double-digit RevPAR growth. San Francisco and St. Louis, in particular, saw significant increases of 51.3% and 35.5%, respectively. Conversely, Tampa experienced a 28.2% decline in RevPAR over the fortnight, mainly due to last year’s hurricane-driven growth. Other markets such as Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, and Seattle also saw notable declines in RevPAR.

Group Demand Trends

Group demand for Luxury and Upper Upscale hotels declined by 1% over the two weeks, despite strong growth in five Top 25 Markets: St. Louis, San Francisco, Oahu, Detroit, and Washington, DC. The growth was primarily observed in the week ending November 22, but some markets maintained strong group demand into the Thanksgiving week.

St. Louis and San Francisco benefited from increased conference activity, with events such as Microsoft Ignite 2025 and the International Conference for High Performance Computing driving demand. St. Louis, in particular, has seen a 12.7% increase in RevPAR since the beginning of Q2, following the reopening of its convention center.

Thanksgiving Week Analysis

Thanksgiving week in the U.S. showed the third-highest room demand in the past 26 years, with 19.8 million rooms sold. Although this was slightly down from the previous year, Wednesday and Thanksgiving Day ranked second in demand individually. Thanksgiving Day occupancy reached 54.9%, marking the eighth-best performance in history.

Global Market Performance

Globally, RevPAR increased by 8.7% over the past two weeks, driven by a 6.9% gain in ADR. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries led the growth with a 30.4% surge in RevPAR, supported by seasonal events. Other regions, including Australia, the Caribbean, France, India, Japan, and Spain, also experienced significant RevPAR growth.

In China, RevPAR grew by 1.2% over the two weeks, continuing a six-week growth trend. The Luxury class hotels saw a 9% increase in RevPAR, while Midscale and Economy class hotels experienced declines. Among major markets, Sanya and Hong Kong reported the highest RevPAR growth rates.

Near-Term Outlook

Looking ahead, the U.S. market faces potential challenges in December, with expectations of flat to declining RevPAR due to holiday timing. Conversely, international markets are expected to maintain their growth trajectory as the year draws to a close.

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