U.S. hotel TRevPAR hit a record high in March 2019, propelled by a 6.8 percent year-on-year increase in non-rooms revenues, which offset a 0.6 percent decrease in RevPAR, according to the latest data tracking full-service hotels from HotStats.
Profit & Loss Key Performance Indicators
March 2019 vs. March 2018RevPAR: –0.6% to $181.89
TRevPAR: +2.1% to $295.88
Payroll %: -0.3 pts. to 32.2%
GOPPAR: +3.0% to $126.47
U.S. hotels recorded a 3 percent increase in profit per room in March to $126.47, which was the fourth consecutive month of GOPPAR growth and was only just below the recent high recorded in October 2018 at $126.51.
The exponential growth in U.S. hotel TRevPAR came as RevPAR fell 0.6 percent YOY to $181.89.
The robust increase in ancillary revenues included a YOY increase in food/beverage (up 4.7 percent) and conference/banqueting (up 6.0 percent) revenue, on a per-available-room basis, which fueled the 2.1 percent increase in TRevPAR in March to $295.88, the highest recorded dollar amount in the past four years.
Despite the drop in RevPAR, achieved average room rate at U.S. full-service hotels was up 1.3 percent YOY against a 1.6 percentage-point decline in room occupancy.
Profit growth was aided by cost savings, which included a 0.3 percentage-point decrease in payroll as a percentage of total revenue, as well as a 0.1 percentage-point saving in overheads.
The solid top- and bottom-line performance resulted in profit conversion for the month of 42.7 percent of total revenue, according to HotStats.
“The first quarter of 2019 was kind to hotels, as not only have revenues risen, so too has there been a calming in expenses, which has led to bullish 4.2-percent GOPPAR growth,” said David Eisen, director of Hotel Intelligence & Customer Solutions, Americas, at HotStats. “Hoteliers will need to keep the pedal to the metal to ensure similar numbers for the remainder of the year.”
