Domestic hotel rates, occupancy levels and revenue per available room continued their fall in the third quarter, according to the latest data provided by Smith Travel Research.
In year-over-year measurements, the industry's occupancy rate dropped 7.9%, to 60.5%; average daily rate fell 9.8%, to $96.84; and RevPAR decreased 16.9%, to $58.61.
Year-to-date 2009, the industry's occupancy fell 9.9%, to 56.6%; ADR dropped 9.1%, to $98.01; and RevPAR decreased 18.1%, to $55.48.
"Third-quarter U.S. lodging industry performance improved marginally from the first two quarters of 2009 but remained weak," said Bobby Bowers, senior vice president at STR.
"The industry has now experienced five consecutive, quarterly RevPAR declines and eight consecutive, quarterly occupancy declines," he said. "Fourth-quarter comparables will be much easier, but we still expect negative industry RevPAR movement for the remainder of 2009 and most of 2010."
Among the top 25 markets, only the Hawaiian island of Oahu came in virtually flat in occupancy for the third quarter, down 0.4%, to 77%.
Five of the top markets experienced double-digit occupancy decreases in Q3: Houston was down 19.4%, to 52.3%; Detroit fell 15.2%, to 52.3%; Dallas was down 14.9%, to 52%; Phoenix fell 12%, to 44.8%; and New Orleans was down 11.3%, to 51.6%.
Norfolk-Virginia Beach, Va., posted the smallest decrease in ADR, which was down 5%, to $99.03. New York reported the largest ADR decrease, falling 25.4%, to $205.75.
Denver also experienced a Q3 ADR decrease of more than 20%, falling 21.3%, to $90.72.
Norfolk-Virginia Beach was the only top market to report a single-digit RevPAR decrease for the quarter, falling 8%, to $64.68.
Detroit and Houston had the largest RevPAR decreases in the quarter, 28.6%, which drove their RevPAR down to $61.64 and $45.37, respectively. New York's RevPAR fell 28.5%, to $170.80.