What are RevPAR, ADR and occupancy, and what is a good number?

A 100-room hotel that sells 70 rooms tonight ran 70 percent occupancy. Over a year the same hotel has 36,500 room nights to sell. CoStar reported U.S. occupancy of 62.3 percent for 2025, down 1.2 percent from 2024, the first full-year decline since 2020.^[1] The monthly figure swings with the season: for July 2026 CoStar reported 69.7 percent.^[2] That swing is why a single month tells you little. Compare the same month a year earlier, or use a trailing twelve months.

ADR counts only sold rooms. An empty room does not pull it down, which is why ADR on its own can flatter a hotel that prices itself out of demand. U.S. ADR was $160.54 for 2025, up 0.9 percent, and $171.74 for July 2026, up 5.7 percent on July 2025.^[1][2] CoStar's July release put the largest rate gain among the top 25 markets in New York City, which hosted the World Cup final: ADR up 24.0 percent to $351.18.^[2] The glossary entry is at ADR.

Choice Hotels' fiscal 2025 10-K describes RevPAR as the key industry standard for measuring hotel operating performance and defines it as the percentage of occupied rooms multiplied by the average daily room rate realized.^[4] Check it against the national figures: 0.623 times $160.54 is $100.02, the 2025 U.S. RevPAR CoStar reported, down 0.3 percent on 2024.^[1] RevPAR is the most quoted of the three because it cannot be gamed from one side. Cutting rate to fill rooms raises occupancy and lowers ADR, and RevPAR shows whether the trade was worth it.

RevPAR counts room revenue only. Hotels with restaurants and meeting space also report total RevPAR, which counts every department. Host Hotels & Resorts reported comparable hotel RevPAR of $229.24 and total RevPAR of $382.83 for 2025.^[5] The glossary entry is at RevPAR.

Both sets are CoStar's, from its STR benchmarking business. We read the full-year figures in Hotel Dive's report of January 22, 2026 and the July figures in Hotel Online's report of August 26, 2026, not on CoStar's own site, and we cite what we read.^[1][2] In July, 22 of the top 25 markets posted RevPAR growth.^[2] For the year ahead, CoStar and Tourism Economics forecast occupancy of 63.1 percent for 2026 and 63.4 percent for 2027, as of August 7, 2026.^[7] The competing forecasts are set side by side at What is the outlook for hotels in 2026 and 2027?. These are the figures the firms made public. Market, submarket and comp-set data are sold by subscription and are not republished here.

Public filings show how wide the range is. For 2025, Choice Hotels reported system occupancy of 55.6 percent, ADR of $95.05 and RevPAR of $52.85 across its franchise system.^[4] Apple Hospitality REIT reported 74.1 percent, $159.09 and $117.95 at its comparable select-service hotels.^[6] Host Hotels & Resorts reported 70.0 percent, $327.54 and $229.24 at its comparable luxury and upper-upscale hotels.^[5] None of those is good or bad. Each is a different business.

The spread inside one brand is just as wide. Hilton's 2025 Hampton disclosure reports average occupancy of 71.7 percent for comparable Hampton hotels in 2024, with individual hotels ranging from 30.5 percent to 96.6 percent, and average room rates for Hampton Inn hotels ranging from $77.60 to $315.97.^[3] A Hampton at 65 percent can be the best hotel in its market and one at 75 percent can be the worst in its market. That is why the question a buyer or lender asks is how the hotel ranks against its comp set.

Hilton's Hampton disclosure writes the formula out: hotel RevPAR divided by comp set RevPAR, times 100, equals RevPAR index, and an index above 100 means the hotel is taking more than its fair share.^[3] The market penetration index does the same with occupancy and the average rate index does the same with ADR. Hilton reports that comparable Hampton hotels averaged an occupancy index of 109.8 and a RevPAR index of 121.0 in 2024.^[3] Read those as the brand's own averages for the hotels it counts as comparable. They are not a promise for any one property.

Index numbers are what make a hotel's performance portable. A RevPAR of $95 means nothing to a buyer who does not know the market. A RevPAR index of 110 tells that buyer the hotel outsells its neighbors by ten percent, and the first thing the buyer will check is which hotels are in the set. More at MPI, ARI and RGI.

AHLA's 2026 State of the Industry release, dated January 27, 2026, says rising operating expenses kept gross operating profit per available room at roughly 90 percent of 2019 levels.^[8] Two hotels with the same RevPAR can have very different income if one pays more for labor, carries a restaurant, or sits under a heavier property tax bill. How revenue becomes income is covered at How do hotels make money?.

A rising RevPAR index supports the case that income is durable. A falling one raises the question of whether the hotel needs capital, a new manager or a different flag. The income is then capitalized to reach a value, which is covered at What is my hotel worth, and who decides? and Walk me through the math on valuing a select-service hotel. On the debt side, the same income is tested against debt service at current rates, which starts at What do lenders require for a hotel loan?. Market-level ranges for the 14 markets we cover are in the Matthews Hotel Index.^[9]

Guide

How does the hotel business work?

Other questions in this guide

• How do hotels make money?
• What are hotel chain scales and classes?
• What is the outlook for hotels in 2026 and 2027?
• How big is the US hotel industry in 2026?

Terms defined in the glossary

• RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room)
• ADR (Average Daily Rate)
• MPI, ARI and RGI (STR Index Scores)
• Competitive Set (Comp Set)

Our own data

• Matthews Hotel Index, Q1 2026
• Hotel financing statistics
• Matthews Hotel Markets rate sheet