There's always a story behind monthly U.S. hotel performance data and October was a perfect example of that, according to podcast hosts Isaac Collazo from STR and Jan Freitag from CoStar Group. Learn why the data show that the U.S. government shutdown really had no meaningful impact on hotel performance. And they unpack what sets ultra-luxury hotels apart from their luxury counterparts and why that matters so much. In this episode, Freitag refers to the CoStar News article A tale of two hotel segments: Luxury vs. ultra-luxury. 

This month, special guest Brandon Ehrhardt from Expedia Group returns to Tell Me More to chat with STR's Isaac Collazo and CoStar's Jan Freitag about the travel giant's Unpack '26 report that explores the most intriguing travel trends for next year. Plus, Collazo and Freitag share September 2025 hotel performance highlights.

Find the Expedia Group Unpack '26 report here: https://partner.expediagroup.com/en-us/resources/research-insights/unpack-26-travel-trends

Buckle up, listeners: Podcast hosts Isaac Collazo from STR and Jan Freitag from CoStar Group take a deep dive this episode into average daily rate. They unpack the percentage of US submarkets losing ADR and the number of hotels losing ADR to debate whether the US is sliding into a lodging recession. 

July hotel performance in the U.S. continued a downward trajectory, but hosts Isaac Collazo from STR and Jan Freitag from CoStar Group talked about some regional bright spots -- namely Canada and a handful of U.S. markets. Collazo and Freitag warn listeners to get ready for day-of-week and holiday shifts coming up in September and October that will affect big-picture hotel performance numbers. 

In this special episode of Tell Me More: A Hospitality Data Podcast, hosts Stephanie Ricca, Jan Freitag and Isaac Collazo record live at the Hotel Data Conference in Nashville. This episode incorporates Q&A conversations with the audience, featuring AirDNA's Jamie Lane, Highgate Hotels' Ankur Randev and Sonesta International Hotels' Garine Ferejian-Mayo.
 
This special episode is sponsored by Expedia Group.

Summer hotel performance in the U.S. has been underwhelming so far, thanks to low demand, still-high inflation and general leisure travel weakness. Tell Me More podcast hosts Isaac Collazo from STR and Jan Freitag from CoStar get listeners prepared for a similarly lackluster fall. Mentioned in this episode is a Politico article published on July 15, 2025, titled Event Planners Are Cancelling on Trump-Era Washington. Is This a Sign of Things to Come?

U.S. hotel performance in May was decidedly lackluster, but Tell Me More podcast hosts Isaac Collazo from STR and Jan Freitag from CoStar point out some bright spots, like notable recent hotel transactions and the team's recent gold medal for best podcast at the National Association of Real Estate Reporters' annual conference. This episode also refers to this recent CoStar News Hotels podcast about summer travel trends with Deloitte's Maggie Rauch.

U.S. hotel performance in May was decidedly lackluster, but Tell Me More podcast hosts Isaac Collazo from STR and Jan Freitag from CoStar point out some bright spots, like notable recent hotel transactions and the team's recent gold medal for best podcast at the National Association of Real Estate Reporters' annual conference. This episode also refers to this recent CoStar News Hotels podcast about summer travel trends with Deloitte's Maggie Rauch.

In this special episode recorded on June 2, 2025, at the NYU IHIF conference in New York City, STR's Isaac Collazo and CoStar's Jan Freitag join CoStar News' Stephanie Ricca to talk about the latest U.S. hotel industry forecast revision from CoStar Group and Tourism Economics. Collazo and Freitag debate what might spur positive or negative deviations from this latest forecast as the rest of the year plays out, including changes in demand, consumer confidence and more. Visit www.costar.com/hotelnews.

Tell Me More podcast hosts Isaac Collazo, Jan Freitag and Stephanie Ricca look at how current news headlines are (or are not) reflected in the data. Collazo shares April hotel performance data highlights around the world, and Freitag unpacks the current hotel pipeline.