U.S. Hotels Post Modest YOY Gains in January, But First RevPAR Growth Since March 2025

U.S. hotels recorded modest year-over-year gains in January 2026, with Minneapolis and Miami seeing the strongest performance increases among major markets.

The U.S. hotel industry reported mostly positive year-over-year performance in January 2026, according to CoStar. Nationwide occupancy was 52.4%, down 0.2% from January 2025. Average daily rate (ADR) rose 0.6% to $152.09, and revenue per available room (RevPAR) increased 0.4% to $79.69. This was the first month of RevPAR growth for the U.S. hotel sector since March 2025.

Among the Top 25 Markets, Minneapolis saw the largest increases in occupancy and RevPAR. Occupancy rose 17.5% to 50.6%, and RevPAR climbed 25.9% to $63.01. Winter is typically a low-demand period for Minneapolis hotels due to seasonal weather, but demand increased from a soft baseline, influenced by federal agent activity, related protests, and media coverage. Properties outside the city experienced slightly stronger gains than those within the urban core, though overall occupancy in surrounding areas remained low in the 50% range.

Miami posted the only double-digit ADR gain among major markets, up 12.4% to $287.84, largely due to the College Football Playoff (CFP) Championship Game.

Washington, D.C. registered the steepest declines, with ADR down 25.8% to $151.99 and RevPAR down 31.3% to $76.36, due to a comparison against the 2025 presidential inauguration. Tampa recorded the largest drop in occupancy, down 14.9% to 68.2%.