U.S. Hotels Suffer Record-Breaking Revenue Drop

The U.S. hotel industry experienced its worst quarterly drop in revenue per available room (RevPAR) on the books during the first quarter of 2009, according to the latest data from Smith Travel Research.

STR reported that RevPAR dropped 17.7 percent from the same period a year before. It was only the fourth time the industry reported a quarterly RevPAR decline of 10 percent or more since STR began tracking data in 1987.

The other times were the fourth quarter of 2001, when RevPAR dropped 16.3 percent; the third quarter of 2001, when it dropped 11.1 percent; and the first quarter of 2002, when it dropped 10.5 percent. RevPAR for the first quarter of 2008 was $62.54, and it dropped to $51.44 in the first quarter of this year.

STR said there has been two double-digit RevPAR growth quarters in history: the first quarter of 2006, when it was up 10.4 percent, and the fourth quarter of 2005, when it was up 10 percent.

By Jeri Clausing, CaribbeanNewsDigital