San Diego Overtakes More US Cities Becoming Leading Hotel Performer Supercharge Tourism

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San Diego overtakes more US cities to become the leading hotel performer, as surging business travel, events and strong demand supercharge tourism and drive a remarkable summer boom. San Diego overtakes more US cities with a remarkable 22.9% RevPAR increase, becoming the leading specifically named hotel performer and supercharging tourism through powerful summer travel demand.

San Diego overtakes more US cities, becoming the leading hotel performer as powerful demand continues to supercharge tourism across the destination. Moreover, business travel and entertainment events are filling hotel rooms and pushing revenue sharply higher. The California city reported a remarkable 22.9% increase in RevPAR during the latest reporting week. Meanwhile, stronger occupancy and rising room demand show that San Diego’s tourism momentum is not slowing. Consequently, hotels are benefiting from a wider mix of corporate travellers, event visitors and holidaymakers. This strong performance now places San Diego ahead of more US cities and highlights its growing importance as a leading tourism and travel destination.

San Diego is the only US city specifically identified by the latest official STR report as a leading hotel performer, recording a 22.9% year-on-year increase in RevPAR during 9-15 August 2026, while the report confirms broad growth across all top 25 US hotel markets, including 10 unnamed Texas markets with double-digit RevPAR gains.

US hotels record 19th straight week of RevPAR growth

The US hotel industry is extending its summer winning streak, with hotel performance continuing to strengthen as demand, business travel, conferences and major events generate broader growth across the country. Revenue per available room, or RevPAR, increased by 6.2% year on year during the week of 9-15 August, marking the 19th consecutive week of growth and underlining the resilience of the country’s hospitality sector.

Average daily rate, or ADR, remained an important driver, rising by 3.5%, but the latest figures show that the recovery is increasingly being powered by actual demand rather than simply higher room prices. Hotel occupancy rose by 1.7 percentage points, while demand increased by 3%, representing the third consecutive week in which demand growth exceeded 3%.

That is a particularly significant development for US hotels because it marks the first time since 2023 that hotel demand has grown by more than 3% for three consecutive weeks. The numbers suggest travellers are filling more rooms across the country, providing a stronger foundation for the industry’s late-summer performance.

Why are weekday travellers driving the latest hotel surge?

Weekday travel has emerged as one of the biggest forces behind the latest improvement in US hotel demand. Sunday-through-Thursday travel accounted for approximately 80% of all hotel demand growth during the week, supported by a combination of group travel, transient guests, corporate trips, conventions and major conferences.

Group demand at luxury and upper-upscale hotels increased by 3.1%, extending a five-week growth streak. This indicates continued strength in large meetings, conventions and organised events, which are generating substantial demand for hotels in major business and tourism destinations.

However, transient travel contributed even more to weekday growth. The improvement suggests that business travel is continuing to recover across multiple US markets, helping hotels generate stronger occupancy beyond weekends and traditional leisure peaks.

This broadening demand base is important because it reduces dependence on a single type of traveller. Hotels are benefiting simultaneously from corporate guests, conference delegates, event visitors and leisure travellers, creating a more balanced performance environment as summer moves towards its final weeks.

Has US hotel growth continued after the FIFA World Cup?

Yes. Although FIFA World Cup-related travel helped create a major early-summer boost, the latest data indicates that US hotel momentum is now extending well beyond the tournament.

Since Memorial Day, US hotel RevPAR has increased by 7.5% compared with the same period in 2025. Every one of the country’s top 25 hotel markets has recorded RevPAR growth during that period, while 87% of markets outside the top 25 have also reported gains.

Summer hotel performance reached its highest levels during the World Cup, but the latest results show that growth is continuing because of a much wider range of demand drivers. Business travel, conventions, entertainment events, major conferences and data centre-related activity are all contributing to hotel demand in markets across the country.

The breadth of this activity is supporting both major urban destinations and smaller cities. As a result, the industry’s growth is becoming less dependent on one international sporting event and more closely linked to wider economic and travel activity.

San Diego Emerges as the Clear City Leader in US Hotel Performance

San Diego has emerged as the standout named city in the latest US hotel performance figures, with hotels recording a remarkable 22.9% year-on-year increase in revenue per available room, or RevPAR, during the week of 9-15 August 2026, as business-related travel and entertainment events created powerful demand and pushed the destination ahead of other specifically identified major markets. The result places San Diego at the centre of America’s late-summer hotel story and demonstrates how a city with a diverse mix of business activity, events, leisure attractions and tourism infrastructure can generate strong accommodation demand without relying on one single source of visitors.

The wider US hotel market also continued its strong summer run, with RevPAR rising 6.2% year on year and extending the industry’s growth streak to 19 consecutive weeks, while average daily rate increased by 3.5%, occupancy rose by 1.7 percentage points and overall demand grew by 3%. For travel and tourism stakeholders, these figures point towards a healthier pattern of growth because more rooms are being occupied, meaning hotel performance is increasingly being supported by genuine traveller demand alongside higher room rates.

Why Is San Diego’s Hotel Market Growing So Quickly?

San Diego’s exceptional performance was supported by a combination of business-related travel and entertainment events, with these demand generators helping hotels maintain elevated performance throughout the week and producing the strongest specifically reported city-level RevPAR increase in the official analysis. The city’s ability to attract corporate visitors, event attendees and leisure travellers at the same time gives its hotel sector a diversified demand base, which is particularly valuable during a summer when US travel and tourism patterns are being shaped by several overlapping reasons for people to move between destinations.

The 22.9% RevPAR increase also illustrates why destination diversity matters to hotel performance, because a city does not need to depend entirely on holidaymakers when conferences, corporate activity and entertainment can fill rooms during periods that might otherwise experience uneven demand. This makes San Diego an important example for the wider tourism industry, as destinations with strong year-round attractions and the capacity to host different forms of travel can potentially protect hotel demand from the volatility associated with dependence on a single event or traveller segment.

Which US Cities and Markets Are Building on Summer Momentum?

The official STR report confirms that every one of the top 25 US hotel markets has recorded RevPAR growth since Memorial Day, while 87% of markets outside the top 25 have also achieved growth over the same period, showing that the summer hotel recovery has reached a far wider geographical area than just one or two major destinations. However, the report does not publicly name every city in the top 25 or identify all the markets that contributed to the growth figures, so it would not be accurate to create a city-by-city ranking beyond the locations specifically disclosed in the official data.

During the week of 9-15 August, seven of the top 25 markets recorded double-digit RevPAR growth, while 74% of markets outside the top 25 also posted an increase, reinforcing the conclusion that the latest expansion is geographically broad even though detailed city-level figures were not released for every market in the report. San Diego remains the principal named city in the official findings, meaning it is the strongest city-specific example currently available for explaining how travel, tourism, events and business activity are translating into higher hotel revenues.

Texas Markets Join the Hotel Growth Story

Texas also stands out in the official report, although the individual cities and markets were not named, because 10 Texas hotel markets recorded double-digit RevPAR growth during the latest week, with data centre-related business activity identified as an important recurring source of demand among many of the strongest-performing locations. The state currently has the largest pipeline of data centres under construction in the United States, according to the report, creating a connection between major investment activity and the wider travel economy as construction teams, corporate visitors, technology specialists and associated business travellers require accommodation.

This is an important development for US tourism because it demonstrates that hotel demand can be generated by economic transformation as well as conventional holiday travel, with business projects potentially bringing new guests into smaller and more rural destinations that may not traditionally rank among America’s largest visitor markets. The Texas results therefore show how infrastructure and investment can indirectly support local hotels, restaurants, transport providers and tourism businesses, although the official source does not provide sufficient evidence to identify which specific 10 Texas cities achieved double-digit growth.

Are luxury hotels still outperforming other segments?

Luxury hotels have continued to outperform the wider industry in both RevPAR and ADR growth throughout the summer. Every hotel class has recorded RevPAR growth since Memorial Day, but the luxury segment has consistently led in terms of room revenue and pricing gains.

Demand growth has nevertheless been distributed more evenly across the industry. Middle-tier hotel classes have accounted for a larger share of the increase in rooms sold, showing that the summer travel boom is not limited to affluent travellers or premium properties.

This combination of luxury strength and broad middle-market demand is creating one of the most balanced hotel growth periods seen in recent months. After almost five months of consecutive RevPAR gains, the latest figures suggest the industry’s momentum is supported by multiple markets, traveller groups and hotel classes.

How is global hotel performance shaping up?

Global hotel RevPAR also increased for the 10th consecutive week, rising 1.7% on a comparable, constant US dollar basis excluding the United States. ADR increased by 3.4%, marking the fourth consecutive week in which global pricing growth reached or exceeded that level.

Demand, however, declined by 1.7%, representing the sharpest fall in a month. Steeper demand decreases in China, Japan and Mexico contributed significantly to the global slowdown, while GCC markets also continued to experience weaker demand.

Canada, India and Spain remained among the stronger performers. Canada’s RevPAR increased by 7%, led by Toronto, where RevPAR surged by 30.5% following a 21.5% increase in ADR and exceptionally strong occupancy of 95.3%.

Montreal also delivered an impressive week, with RevPAR rising 14.4% as both occupancy and ADR increased at almost equal rates.

A broader hotel boom is carrying the industry into late summer

The latest hotel figures reveal a US industry benefiting from much more than one-off World Cup travel. Strong weekday demand, improving business travel, sustained group activity, conferences, entertainment events and investment-driven travel are creating a broad-based summer surge.

San Diego’s spectacular growth, double-digit gains across multiple markets and continued expansion in smaller destinations all demonstrate the depth of the current momentum. With every major hotel class recording RevPAR growth since Memorial Day, the sector is entering the final stretch of summer with a significantly stronger demand profile.

The question now is whether this momentum can continue into autumn. If corporate travel, conventions and major events remain strong, US hotels could carry their summer growth streak well beyond the traditional peak travel season.

Is the FIFA World Cup Still Driving US Hotel Demand?

FIFA World Cup-related travel clearly contributed to the powerful early-summer surge, but the latest hotel figures indicate that the industry’s momentum has expanded beyond the tournament, with US RevPAR increasing 7.5% since Memorial Day compared with the same period in 2025 and growth spreading across both large urban markets and smaller destinations. The official analysis says recent results continue to reflect the underlying forces that supported performance throughout the summer, including business travel, conferences, major events and data centre-related activity, creating a broader foundation for the hotel sector.

This wider distribution of demand is encouraging for the travel and tourism industry because destinations can benefit even when they are not directly connected to a globally recognised sporting event, provided they can attract meetings, corporate travellers, concerts, exhibitions or investment-related visitors. The summer peak may have coincided with extraordinary World Cup demand, but the continuing growth after the strongest tournament-related period suggests that the US hotel market has developed multiple sources of occupancy and is not simply experiencing a temporary one-event boom.

Weekday Business Travel Is Becoming a Major Growth Engine

One of the strongest signals in the latest figures is the growing importance of weekday demand, with Sunday-through-Thursday travel accounting for roughly 80% of all US hotel demand growth during the week and being supported by both group and transient travellers. Group demand at luxury and upper-upscale hotels rose by 3.1%, extending a five-week growth streak and pointing towards continued strength in conventions and large conference activity, while transient demand made an even larger contribution to weekday gains.

For the travel industry, this improvement in weekday activity is particularly significant because strong leisure weekends alone cannot create a consistently healthy hotel market, whereas corporate and group bookings can provide dependable occupancy across the traditional working week. The figures suggest that transient business travel is improving across many markets, and this creates opportunities for cities with convention centres, corporate districts, airports and strong transport links to convert economic activity into sustained hotel demand and wider tourism spending.

Demand Growth Is Now Supporting Hotel Performance Alongside Higher Prices

ADR remains an important component of the industry’s performance, rising 3.5% during the latest week, but the stronger demand figures indicate that hotels are increasingly filling more rooms rather than relying only on higher prices to produce revenue growth. Occupancy rose by 1.7 percentage points as demand increased by 3%, marking the third consecutive week in which demand growth exceeded 3% and the first such three-week sequence since 2023.

That change is significant for travel and tourism because stronger room demand can indicate a more durable market environment, especially when it is spread across different hotel classes, destinations and types of travellers rather than concentrated in one premium segment. A hotel sector supported by growing occupancy, group business and improving corporate travel is generally better positioned to absorb seasonal changes, although future performance will still depend on economic conditions, event calendars and traveller confidence.

Luxury Hotels Lead, but Middle-Tier Properties Are Also Benefiting

Every hotel class has recorded RevPAR growth since Memorial Day, confirming that the summer momentum is not confined to luxury properties, although the luxury segment has led all other classes in both RevPAR and ADR growth throughout the season. At the same time, demand growth has been distributed more widely, with middle tiers accounting for a larger share of the increase in rooms sold and showing that the benefits of stronger travel and tourism activity are reaching a broad range of accommodation providers.

This balance matters because it suggests the US hotel boom is being supported by different budgets and traveller profiles, from high-spending luxury guests to corporate and leisure customers choosing more moderately priced accommodation. Such diversity gives destinations greater resilience and allows tourism economies to capture spending across a wider network of hotels, local businesses and visitor services instead of concentrating growth exclusively in the highest-priced properties.

What San Diego and the Wider US Market Tell the Travel Industry

San Diego’s 22.9% RevPAR increase is the clearest city-specific signal from the official report, but the larger story is the scale of the national recovery, with all top 25 markets reporting growth since Memorial Day and substantial gains continuing across smaller markets. The combination of business trips, conferences, entertainment, major events, investment activity and leisure tourism is creating a more complex and potentially more resilient demand structure than one driven by a single summer attraction.

For destinations and hoteliers, the lesson is that successful tourism economies increasingly depend on building multiple demand streams, because a city capable of attracting visitors for work, meetings, events and holidays has more opportunities to maintain occupancy throughout the year. San Diego currently provides the strongest named example of this approach, while the double-digit growth across 10 unnamed Texas markets highlights how new economic development can also reshape local travel patterns and strengthen hotel performance.

Anup Kumar Keshan, Editor-in-Chief, Travel And Tour World says “San Diego’s outstanding hotel performance and the wider growth seen across the United States are highly encouraging signs for the global travel and tourism industry. What makes these results especially positive is the breadth of demand, with business travellers, conference delegates, event visitors and leisure tourists all contributing to stronger hotel occupancy and revenues. The continued growth beyond the FIFA World Cup demonstrates the resilience of American destinations and their ability to create sustained visitor appeal. Cities that invest in connectivity, events, infrastructure and memorable experiences can unlock significant opportunities. This momentum offers a strong and optimistic outlook for hotels, destinations and tourism businesses nationwide.”

The cause behind San Diego’s rise is a powerful combination of business travel, entertainment events and broader visitor demand, which helped hotels achieve a 22.9% RevPAR increase. The answer is that San Diego became the leading specifically named hotel performer because more travellers required accommodation throughout the reporting week. Furthermore, strong event activity created additional demand while business travellers strengthened weekday occupancy. The reason this matters is that tourism growth is increasingly supporting the city’s wider visitor economy, rather than relying on one single attraction or travel segment. Consequently, San Diego’s diverse demand base is helping hotels maintain momentum and compete strongly with more US cities.

San Diego’s ability to overtake more US cities and emerge as the leading hotel performer highlights the growing power of diversified travel demand. Business trips, entertainment events and tourism have combined to supercharge hotel performance and generate remarkable summer momentum. The city’s 22.9% RevPAR growth makes it the strongest specifically named city performer in the latest official report. Moreover, the result shows how destinations can benefit when corporate, event and leisure travellers arrive simultaneously. As US hotel demand continues to broaden, San Diego stands out as a major success story. Its performance could strengthen its tourism economy and reinforce its position among America’s most dynamic travel destinations.

What Could Happen Next for US Hotels?

As the summer season moves towards its final stretch, the continuation of strong weekday demand, sustained group bookings and improving transient business travel could help the US hotel industry maintain momentum into the autumn, particularly in destinations with active conference and event calendars. The official figures show that growth is no longer tied to one market, one hotel class or one event, although future results will depend on whether the current demand drivers remain strong after peak summer travel begins to ease.

The most important takeaway for travel and tourism is that the current hotel expansion appears increasingly broad-based, with San Diego leading the named city results and growth spreading across major markets, smaller destinations and multiple accommodation categories. While the official report does not provide a complete city-by-city list, it provides strong evidence that America’s summer hotel momentum is being built by a combination of diverse destinations and equally diverse reasons for travellers to visit them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which US city led hotel performance in the latest STR report?

San Diego was the leading specifically named US city, with hotel RevPAR rising 22.9% year on year during the week of 9-15 August 2026, supported by business-related travel and entertainment events.

Did all major US hotel markets record growth?

Yes, every one of the top 25 US hotel markets recorded RevPAR growth since Memorial Day, while 87% of markets outside the top 25 also posted gains during that broader summer period.

Which Texas cities recorded double-digit hotel growth?

The official STR report confirmed that 10 Texas markets recorded double-digit RevPAR growth, but it did not name the individual cities or markets, so a verified city-by-city list cannot be produced from the official source.

What is driving US hotel demand?

The main demand drivers identified in the official report include business travel, conferences, major events, entertainment activity, group travel, improving transient business travel and data centre-related business activity.

Is US hotel growth continuing after the FIFA World Cup?

Yes, the report indicates that although World Cup-related travel helped drive early-summer performance, hotel momentum has expanded beyond the tournament and is being supported by a broader range of travel, tourism and business demand drivers.

Source: STR/CoStar: US Hotel Performance Continues to Build on Summer Momentum