The traditional "Hotel Horizons" report published on 13 December by PKF Hospitality Research offers a tempting outlook for hotel professionals in the United States. The same cannot be said for business travellers, who should expect to see an increase in rates across the Atlantic as demand rises. Overall, the Average Daily Rate (ADR) is set to rise in both 2012 (+4.7%) and 2013 (+5.3%), although PKF Hospitality Research qualifies its forecasts according to the classification of establishments. "PKF-HR identifies a lasting trend that favours the future performance of hotels in the top end of the market". Occupancy rates for hotels in the top category are set to exceed 70% in 2012-2013, while budget hotels are likely to remain below their long-term average. However, the outlook for growth in demand remains lower than that seen in 2010 (+7.4%) and 2011 (+4.8%), with projections limited to +2% for next year. Nevertheless, the future trend in the hotel sector gives the Chairman of PKF-HR cause for optimism: "We remain fairly confident that 2012 will be another year of growth for the US hotel industry".
