According to Smith Travel Research, the industry is recovering more rapidly than expected. Demand growth is now projected to be 7.4% compared to the earlier January forecast of 1.8%. This growth, combined with a 2.0% increase in supply, is projected to result in a 5.3% occupancy increase, which is a significant improvement over the 0% previous projection. These increases have resulted in RevPAR projections increasing from -3.2% to +5.4%.
ADR is still lagging, although the 2010 forecasted rate growth has been increased from -3.2% to a -0.1%. "Demand has come back faster and swifter than we anticipated", stated Mark Lomanno. "That's a good foundation for the industry to build upon; however, hotel operators must take advantage of the pricing power that is available because of the increase in demand."
Projections for 2011 have been increased slightly, with demand expected to increase 2.5%, Occupancy to increase by 1.6%, ADR to increase by 3.9%, and RevPAR to increase by 5.5%.
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