Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano told an investor conference Wednesday that July revenue per available room (RevPAR) rose 7% year over year globally and 8% in the U.S. and Canada.

He said it reflected growth "across geographies, across chain scales, and across demand segments." 

CoStar put industry-wide U.S. RevPAR up 8% that month. So Marriott roughly matched the market.

Strip out the World Cup, though, and U.S. and Canada growth falls to 5%, by Capuano's math. The tournament was a one-summer subsidy: high-spending visitors compressed into a few host markets. 

But 5% growth is still above the historical average. Capuano expects demand to hold, citing spending data that issuers of Marriott's co-branded cards share with his team. 

Capuano said most of the growth came from average daily rate, "which is terrific for our owner community because so much of that drives margin and returns." Rate flows to the bottom line almost intact, while incremental occupied rooms bring costs to service the guest, such as housekeeping.

After years of cost inflation, hotel owners prefer rate-led growth. They've gotten it.

Every travel leader is making 2027 bets on 2025 assumptions, and the ground keeps moving under them. AI is rewriting who owns the booking. Geopolitics is redrawing the growth map. Traveler behavior won't sit still long enough to plan against.

For three days in New York, the people running Airbnb, Uber, Booking Holdings, Expedia, and Hilton work through the same problem out loud. September 22. Final pricing starts tonight.

ARDA + SKIFT

New ARDA research shows Millennials and Gen Z redefining vacation ownership around value, flexibility, and family travel.

Fake AI hotel videos are starting to show up on TikTok Go — and they could create a major trust problem for travel.

In this episode of the Skift Travel Podcast, Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko unpack Skift’s reporting on AI-generated TikTok videos promoting a 40-room luxury resort in Sedona, Arizona. Some videos showed suites and amenities that do not exist, including a peaceful pond that was not actually there.

At least one creator may not have been real either, and some videos carried commission tags even though the property was not available to book through TikTok.

How are public accommodations companies performing around the world? The Skift Travel 200 pulls the data you need to know to understand the market. Paid subscribers get full access here.