Of the top 26 U.S. hotel markets, New Orleans was the big leader in RevPAR (revenue per available room) improvement for 2010, according to a report from STR Analytics.
New Orleans achieved an impressive 14.7 percent growth in RevPAR, which is the key benchmark used by hotels to measure profitability, last year. The other cities in the top five were Miami, Boston, New York and Denver, the only other U.S. markets besides New Orleans to achieve double-digit gains.
Conversely, the report said the bottom two markets, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla., and Houston, experienced RevPAR declines of 1.5 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively. The report also noted that Houston had also absorbed a 6.7 percent increase in hotel room supply during that same period.
The report also showed that the same top five cities in RevPAR gains were also among those who achieved the highest ADR (average daily rate) in 2010, averaging a 3.1 percent increase.
