U.S. EXTENDED-STAY ROOM supply increased 3 percent in September, outpacing the average monthly growth of the past two years, according to The Highland Group. This rise partly reflects the addition of WaterWalk by Wyndham, a mid-price extended-stay brand included in the database in May 2024 after its Wyndham affiliation.
September marked 36 consecutive months of 4 percent or less supply growth, with annual supply change under 2 percent for two years—both below the long-term average, as revealed in The Highland Group’s U.S. Extended-Stay Hotels Bulletin: September 2024. A 10.9 percent rise in economy extended-stay supply, along with modest gains in mid-price and upscale rooms, is largely due to conversions, as new economy construction represents only about 3 percent of rooms open compared to last year.
Supply change comparisons have been affected by rebranding shifts between segments, hotel de-flagging for non-compliance with brand standards, and sales to multi-family apartment companies and municipalities.
“September was a mixed month for extended-stay hotels as demand growth lagged the change in supply and the increase in ADR was not enough to stop RevPAR contracting for the first time in six months,” said Mark Skinner, The Highland Group’s partner.
Revenue and demand growth
Extended-stay hotels saw a 1.6 percent increase in room revenue in September, marking the sixth consecutive monthly gain. While this was the smallest increase in six months, it outperformed the 0.4 percent decline reported by STR/CoStar for the broader hotel industry, The Highland Group said.
Extended-stay demand rose 1.1 percent in September, marking positive growth in 21 of the past 22 months. In contrast, STR/CoStar reported a 1.5 percent decline in overall hotel demand for September.
Trends in key metrics
September saw the first decline in extended-stay occupancy in six months, though it was smaller than the 2.5 percent drop reported by STR/CoStar for all hotels. Extended-stay occupancy remained 11.1 percentage points above the overall hotel industry, the report said.
After declines in February and March—the first in three years—extended-stay ADR rose for the sixth straight month in September, though the increase was the smallest in this period and below the 1.2 percent rise reported by STR/CoStar for all hotels. Among comparable classes, only upscale extended-stay ADR lagged slightly in September by 0.2 percent.
After five consecutive months of gains, extended-stay RevPAR fell 1.4 percent in September, slightly exceeding the 1.3 percent decline for the total hotel industry estimated by STR/CoStar, the report said. Economy extended-stay hotels saw the largest RevPAR drop after two months of modest gains, though this decrease was much smaller than the 6.1 percent fall reported for all economy hotels by STR/CoStar.
The Highland Group reported that U.S. extended-stay room supply grew 3.3 percent in August, surpassing the two-year average monthly growth.
