Demand for U.S. hotel rooms will grow slower than previously expected because of a combination of lower-than-expected third-quarter revenue and the fourth-quarter impact of Superstorm Sandy on the East Coast lodging industry, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said Monday.
U.S. revenue per available room (RevPAR) will advance 6.6% this year, less then the 7.2% growth PwC forecast in late August.
While occupancy will be 61.4% for the year — about the same as PwC’s prior estimate — room rates will increase 4.1%, down from the previous forecast of 4.6%.
For 2013, PwC cut its U.S. RevPAR growth forecast to 5.4% from 5.6%. Still, occupancy will reach 61.9%, marking the fourth straight annual increase and the highest mark since 2007’s occupancy rate of 62.8%, PwC forecast.
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