by Calculated Risk on 3/17/2011 08:25:00 PM

I'm still mostly focused on the U.S. economy, although I'm also following the events in Japan and the situation in Libya. And Reuters reported: "Japan has agreed with central banks of the US, Britain and Canada as well as the European Central Bank to jointly intervene in the currency market"

Earlier on U.S. Economy:
• Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims decline to 385,000
• Industrial Production, Capacity Utilization decline in February
• Core Measures show increase in Inflation
• Philly Fed Survey highest since January 1984

Here is the weekly update on hotels from HotelNewsNow.com: STR: Luxury hotels top weekly increases

Overall, the U.S. industry’s occupancy increased 6.0% to 61.1%, ADR was up 3.1% to US$100.93, and RevPAR finished the week up 9.2% to US$61.69.

Note: RevPAR: Revenue per Available Room.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

This graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate.

The occupancy rate was fairly low in January and February, but appears to be improving recently - and is now closer to the rate in 2008 than in 2010.

Data Source: Smith Travel Research, Courtesy of HotelNewsNow.com