U.S. lodging industry will achieve a
new record number of occupied rooms per night of 3.277 million this
summer, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers
LLP. The previous record of 3.136 million occupied rooms per night
was achieved in 2005.
Forecasted occupancy rate of 71.5% will be highest in the five years
since 2000. Since 2000, U.S. hotel supply has increased by 7.7
percent.
PricewaterhouseCoopers forecasts that construction will begin on
119,000 new hotel rooms in 2006, an increase of 45% over 2005. The
largest percentage increase will be in upscale hotels and mid-price
hotels without food and beverage. This compares with the 10 and 25
year average new hotel room construction starts of 108,652 and
82,625, respectively. This is the highest level of new hotel room
construction since 2000.
Following a record $4.8 billion invested in the U.S. lodging
industry in 2005, along with a record increase of 50% over 2004
levels, the industry is forecast to invest $5.0 billion in 2006,
according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.
In the US hotel industry sector the
national average for room rates was $86.24 in 2004 (based on Smith
Travel Research); it will increase to $90.70 in 2005 and is forecast
by PricewaterhouseCoopers to increase to $95.21 in 2006.
PricewaterhouseCoopers forecasts 2
to 5 lodging IPOs and 7 to 12 lodging M&A transactions for 2006.
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