Dive Brief:
- 2024 saw the second-strongest Thanksgiving week on record for hotel performance, following 2021, according to STR analysis. Room demand was also the second-highest on record this year, led by hotels outside of the top 25 markets.
- Hotel RevPAR was up 4.2% this year for the Wednesday-to-Saturday period surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday, and occupancy (54.8%) was also stronger than STR had previously projected (53.1%).
- Though all chain scales posted growth over Thanksgiving, it was highest among the top three chain scales, with RevPAR seeing the biggest surge in upper upscale.
Dive Insight:
Thanksgiving occurred later in November this year, which caused “significant performance fluctuations,” per STR. Those fluctuations, however, netted positive results for hotels.
Room demand increased 2.8% year on year for the Wednesday-to-Saturday period surrounding Thanksgiving, boosted in particular by growth of 3.9% outside the top 25 markets, as compared to growth of 1.2% within the top 25 markets that STR tracks.
Nominally, ADR and RevPAR were the highest ever recorded for the Thanksgiving period, according to STR — though they were both below 2021 levels when adjusted for inflation.
Upscale hotels led the chain scales for occupancy (58.9%), followed by upper midscale (57.6%), per STR. Economy hotels, however, posted the largest RevPAR growth, up 8.5% year on year. This was due in part to the economy segment’s ADR increase of 2.8%, the highest of any chain scale.
The upper and lower chain scale trends reflect the continued bifurcation of hotels, per STR, with RevPAR and occupancy gains driving performance at the top and ADR gains driving growth at the bottom.
Upper-tier hotel segments are expected to see the highest RevPAR growth in 2024 and 2025, according to an STR and Tourism Economics report released in August.
In November, AAA forecasted that 80 million Americans would travel for Thanksgiving alone. Americans traveling during this winter’s holiday season are also expected to spend $3,294 on average for their longest holiday trip, according to Deloitte.
