Revved-up revenue
6 uniquely Austin hotels are among the most lucrative in Texas
Financially speaking, Austin’s hotels collectively clobbered their bigger-city Texas rivals last year, according to a new report.
The report, released March 3 by San Antonio-based hotel consulting firm Source Strategies Inc., shows hotels in the Austin metro area dominated the state’s revenue-generation leaders last year. Austin claimed 30 of Texas’ 100 highest-revenue properties, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and Galveston (eight each), and San Antonio (seven).
Source Strategies hails Austin, the smallest of Texas’ four largest metro areas, as “the most robust lodging market in the state.”
Total hotel revenue in the Austin area jumped 12.1 percent last year, bested only by Corpus Christi and El Paso. Dallas-Fort Worth saw hotel revenue climb 5.4 percent, with San Antonio at 2 percent and Houston at 1.3 percent. Statewide, hotel revenue grew 4.7 percent in 2019.
Austin also crushed Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio last year in a key indicator of financial success for hotels. In 2019, Austin hotels notched revenue per available room (RevPAR) of $107.93. The RevPAR figure for San Antonio was $76.59, with Dallas-Fort Worth at $76.24 and Houston at $65.55. The statewide RevPAR average was $69.86.
Although Austin outdistanced the state’s three other mega-metros in hotel performance metrics for 2019, it can’t boast of having the state’s top revenue-producing hotel. That honor goes to The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas.
Here are the top 10 revenue generators in Texas for 2019, based on RevPAR:
- The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas — $350.95
- Four Seasons Hotel, Austin — $308.16
- Hotel Emma, San Antonio — $296.66
- The Driskill, Austin — $262.83
- Hotel San José, Austin — $259.93
- Hotel Van Zandt, Austin — $257.92
- South Congress Hotel, Austin — $255.98
- Hotel Crescent Court, Dallas — $251.29
- The Joule, Dallas — $235.51
- W Hotel, Austin — $234.79
In the Houston area, the top revenue producer last year was The Post Oak Hotel at Uptown Houston, which recorded RevPAR of $217.13. It ranked 13th statewide for RevPAR in 2019.
Despite not having a hotel in the top 10, Todd Walker, president of Source Strategies, says Houston's hotel industry did show improvements during the last six months of 2019.
“The Houston metro turned around in the second half of the year, showing strong demand in the third and fourth quarters,” Walker adds. “Dallas-Fort Worth had a solid year, but the San Antonio lodging market has cooled considerably.”
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