The Houston hotel market ended April with an uptick in occupancy at 65.1%. ADR and RevPAR displayed slight losses at $119, a 3.8% decrease, and $77.37, a 3.5% decrease, respectively.
Conversely, year-to-date metrics showed gains in all key performance indicators, save occupancy. ADR showed a 2.9% gain compared to the same time period last year, while ADR increased 2.7%Occupancy was essentially flat at 62.2%.
Market Trends
Unlike some trends we saw in Q1, the market showed higher overall weekend performance than weekdays, with occupancy for weekends hitting 74%, an almost 1% year-over-year gain, compared with weekday occupancy performance at 62%.
The market showed the biggest year-over-year growth in demand for Luxury Class properties, where April ADR hit $303. Conversely, Economy Class property demand had minimal growth, indicating that those with more disposable income are still inclined to travel, while economy travelers are tightening their budgets in the current economy.
April Submarket Comparison:
Houston submarkets saw fluctuations across key performance metrics in April.
- Occupancy in the Houston CBD submarket sat at 64.6%, a small year-over-year decrease of 2.4%. ADR ended the month of April at $221, while RevPAR landed at $143.
- The Katy Freeway/West market saw gains across KPIs, with occupancy at 68.7%, an almost 1% gain. ADR ended the month at $106, while RevPAR showed a 1.4% increase at $73.
- The Houston Southwest Freeway submarket grew year-over-year, with occupancy at 67.1%, a 3.1% gain. RevPAR and revenue showed gains of 1.6% and 2.5%, respectively.
Driving performance:
Though travel cooled slightly, following Spring Break travel in March, major conferences in the Downtown/CBD submarket helped to strengthen the overall hotel market, with meetings like the First Robotics Conference driving occupancy and ADR in the region.
Written by Megan Henson
