Steady group demand, widespread gains keep September on pace for strong showing
Another week of double-digit growth pushed September closer to becoming the strongest month of 2026 for U.S. hotels.
Revenue per available room (RevPAR) increased 14.2% during the week of Sept. 20-26, marking the second consecutive week of double-digit growth and the third occurrence this month.
Average daily rate (ADR) increased 7.4%, occupancy rose 4.2 percentage points, and room demand was up 6.7% compared to the same week in 2025. The gains continued a trend that has defined much of the year, as U.S. hotels have recorded year-over-year growth across all major performance metrics in 23 of the past 24 weeks.
Group demand fuels strongest luxury performance of 2026
Luxury hotels led all chain scales with a 19.9% increase in RevPAR, the largest weekly gain recorded by any class in 2026. ADR increased 8.9% while demand rose 11%, marking the strongest demand growth of the year for luxury hotels.
Luxury and upper-upscale hotels combined for a 17.7% RevPAR increase, supported by a 20.6% rise in group demand. Together, the two classes sold approximately 2.3 million group room nights during the week, the fourth-highest weekly total of 2026.
The strength was particularly notable given the timing of the Jewish holiday calendar. Yom Kippur fell on Sunday and Monday of the reporting week, a period that has historically led to a decline in business-travel activity. At the same time, the comparison week in 2025 included Rosh Hashanah, which was Sept. 22-24 and tempered group and corporate demand during that period. Against that backdrop, luxury and upper-upscale hotels sold roughly 395,000 more group room nights than during the comparable week last year.
The increase in group demand was also reflected in overall national performance. Similar trends were visible across the broader industry, particularly during the workweek, where demand produced some of the strongest performance gains of the year.
Weekday performance drives national gains
Against the Rosh Hashanah comp, weekday demand accounted for much of the week’s performance growth. RevPAR increased 17.2% across the Sunday-through-Thursday period, nearly doubling the pace of weekend growth. Last week produced the largest weekday demand increase of 2026, as U.S. hotels sold approximately 1.4 million more room nights than during the corresponding week last year. The high demand drove overall weekday performance, with every weekday recording double-digit RevPAR growth, led by Tuesday and Wednesday, which each exceeded 21%.
Major U.S. metropolitan markets were the primary beneficiaries of the weekday hotel demand surge. Every top 25 market posted weekday RevPAR growth, with the markets combining for a 22.9% increase.
Several of the strongest-performing markets were Orlando, San Francisco, Miami, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, and Chicago, all of which posted RevPAR gains near or above 30%. The results underscore how widespread the growth was across the largest U.S. hotel markets during the workweek given the easy comp. However, the magnitude of the gains was somewhat surprising.
College football powers secondary-market weekends
Weekend U.S. hotel performance was comparatively moderate, with RevPAR increasing 8.5% from Friday through Saturday. Unlike weekdays, however, growth was strongest among markets outside the top 25.
Non-top 25 markets collectively posted an 11.7% increase in weekend RevPAR, outperforming their larger-market counterparts. Much of that strength was concentrated in markets hosting major college football games.
Seven separate markets recorded weekend RevPAR growth exceeding 100%, an unusually high count for a single week. The concentration of gains across college football destinations suggests that game scheduling played a meaningful role in several of the week’s largest increases.
Knoxville, Tennessee, provided one of the clearest examples of that pattern. The market led the nation in RevPAR growth for the week (+99.7%), aided by one of the season’s most anticipated college football matchups against top-ranked Texas. Similar trends were observed across college football destinations throughout the South and Midwest, where home-game schedules contributed to outsized weekend gains.
The contrast between weekday and weekend performance highlights the different demand patterns that shaped the week. Major markets saw most of their gains during the weekdays, while college football markets accounted for many of the strongest weekend increases.
Takeaway
September has now produced three double-digit RevPAR growth weeks and is on pace to become the strongest month for hotel performance growth in 2026. The final full week of the month combined elevated weekday demand across major markets with strong event-driven performance in several secondary destinations. Together, those factors supported another week of broad-based growth across the U.S. hotel industry.
Perhaps most notable was that these gains occurred during a week that included Yom Kippur. Rather than producing softer weekday performance, the U.S. hotel industry recorded its largest weekday room-night increase of 2026 and one of the strongest group-demand weeks of the year. The timing of Rosh Hashanah in the 2025 comparison week likely contributed to those year-over-year gains, but the scale of the demand increase across both upper-tier hotels and major markets underscored how elevated weekday travel activity was during the final full week of September.
Global RevPAR accelerates
On a comparable hotel and constant USD basis, excluding the U.S., global performance accelerated as RevPAR advanced 8.4%, its largest weekly gain of the past 12 weeks. The growth was ADR led with the measure rising 9.4%, which is also the largest increase in recent memory. The growth was widespread with only the Middle East/Africa seeing RevPAR decrease due to the ongoing war.
Standouts this week included most major hotel countries including Australia, Canada, France, Germany and India, which each achieved double-digit RevPAR gains. The Caribbean, Spain and the U.K. also saw strong single-digit increases.
It’s worth noting that Canada has been strong for most of the year with this week’s occupancy (82.4%) the third highest behind the peak seen six weeks ago. September’s occupancy stood at 78.9%, which is equal to what was seen in July and just below August. RevPAR is also expected to see strong growth with September MTD up 14.2%.
Mexico continued to struggle with major tourism destinations seeing decreasing hotel demand. Mexico City, however, saw RevPAR rise 12.7% on equal growth in occupancy and ADR.
by Cole Martin, Isaac Collazo / CoStar News