Hotel occupancy to hit 20-year high

The hospitality industry is on track to hit its highest occupancy levels in 20 years in 2015 due to strong gains this year, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The increased momentum of demand growth during the second quarter and a robust summer travel season also resulted in public lodging companies increasing their guidance on revenue per available room growth for the year. 

PwC expects lodging demand in 2014 to increase 4.0 percent. Increased demand, combined with still-restrained supply growth of 1.0 percent, is anticipated to boost occupancy levels to 64.1 percent. In comparison, hotel occupancy was 62.2 percent in 2013.

However, PwC predicts acceleration in supply growth of 1.6 percent in 2015, as more new hotels are developed (up more than 50 percent in the second quarter, compared to the same quarter in the previous year), with supply growth in the higher-priced chain scale segme