Hospitality spans hotels, restaurants, food services, and related visitor activity. The statistics below distinguish broad U.S. accommodation and food services, the narrower hotel industry, and company-specific measures, with periods and estimate types stated explicitly.
Key Hospitality Industry Statistics
These highlights summarize the most useful measures across the hospitality industry:
- In September 2024, 14.3982 million U.S. accommodation and food-services payroll jobs were recorded in seasonally adjusted BLS data.
- In September 2024, 12.4702 million U.S. food-services and drinking-place payroll jobs were recorded.
- In September 2024, 1.9280 million U.S. accommodation payroll jobs were recorded.
- In 2023, $367.1 billion in revenue was generated by the Western U.S. accommodation and food-services sector.
- In 2023, $110.7 billion in annual payroll was recorded for Western U.S. accommodation and food services.
- The U.S. hotel industry’s modeled total output reached $1,681.1 billion in 2024.
- The U.S. hotel industry’s modeled total GDP contribution reached $894.1 billion in 2024.
- U.S. hotels averaged 5.664 million guest rooms in 2024.
- U.S. hotels recorded 1.298 billion occupied room nights in 2024.
- The AHLA 2024 forecast projected 63.6% U.S. hotel occupancy.
- The AHLA 2024 forecast projected $101.82 in nominal U.S. hotel RevPAR.
- Hilton’s comparable global hotels reported 72.1% occupancy in 2024.
- Hilton’s comparable global hotels reported $159.55 ADR in 2024.
- Hilton had 8,447 properties and 1,268,206 rooms in 140 countries and territories on December 31, 2024.
- U.S. hotel-industry modeled total taxes reached $246.3 billion in 2024.
- 64.9% of responding U.S. hoteliers reported staffing challenges in a December 2024 survey.
Contents
- U.S. hospitality scale, revenue, and economic output
- Hospitality employment statistics
- Hotel properties, rooms, guest nights, and occupancy
- Hotel revenue, pricing, and operating performance
- Hospitality taxes, wages, and local contribution
- Global hotel growth and workforce challenges
U.S. Hospitality Industry Scale, Revenue, and Economic Output
Hospitality is broader than lodging alone. Census data for NAICS 72 covers accommodation and food services, while the AHLA/Oxford series models the U.S. hotel industry and includes direct, indirect, and induced effects where noted.
The Census Annual Integrated Economic Survey reported $367.1 billion in 2023 revenue for accommodation and food services in the U.S. West, alongside $110.7 billion in annual payroll. These are regional figures, not national sector totals, and the payroll measure is an AIES regional measure. Annual Integrated Economic Survey Releases First Dataset
| U.S. hotel-industry measure | 2019 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total output, modeled | $1,360.2 billion | $1,607.0 billion | $1,681.1 billion |
| Total GDP contribution, modeled | — | — | $894.1 billion |
| Direct GDP contribution, modeled | — | — | $425.8 billion |
| Guest spending, modeled | — | — | $786.5 billion |
The AHLA/Oxford estimate puts total output at $1,681.1 billion in 2024, compared with $1,607.0 billion in 2023 and $1,360.2 billion in 2019. Total output is an economic-impact estimate, not hotel-company revenue alone. 2025 Economic Impact of the US Hotel Industry
The same 2024 model estimates total GDP contribution at $894.1 billion, including downstream effects, while direct GDP contribution from hotel operations, ancillary spending, and capital investment was $425.8 billion. Hotel guest spending across lodging, transportation, food and beverage, retail, and other expenses totaled a modeled $786.5 billion.
Hospitality Employment Statistics Across Accommodation and Food Services
BLS payroll employment counts jobs on nonfarm payrolls, not unique people. The September 2024 seasonally adjusted breakdown shows how heavily hospitality employment is concentrated in food services.
| Industry detail | September 2024 payroll jobs | Geography and basis |
|---|---|---|
| Accommodation and food services, NAICS 72 | 14.3982 million | United States, seasonally adjusted |
| Accommodation, NAICS 721 | 1.9280 million | United States, seasonally adjusted |
| Traveler accommodation, NAICS 7211 | 1.8441 million | United States, seasonally adjusted |
| Food services and drinking places, NAICS 722 | 12.4702 million | United States, seasonally adjusted |
| Restaurants and other eating places, NAICS 7225 | 11.1412 million | United States, seasonally adjusted |
Within traveler accommodation, hotels and motels excluding casino hotels accounted for 1.5585 million payroll workers, while casino hotels accounted for 247,600. Within restaurants and eating places, full-service restaurants had 5.4054 million payroll jobs and limited-service restaurants had 4.7217 million.
Other measured categories included 938,100 jobs in snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars, 528,700 in food-service contractors, and 241,400 in caterers and mobile food services. These figures describe payroll jobs in the named industries, not all people who may work in hospitality over a year. Table B-1a. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry sector and selected industry detail, seasonally adjusted
Hotel Properties, Rooms, Guest Nights, and Occupancy Trends
The hotel series covers hotels, motels, inns, and bed-and-breakfasts as defined by the AHLA/Oxford report. Guest nights mean occupied room nights, not individual guests.
| U.S. hotel measure | 2019 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Properties | 60,828 | 64,165 |
| Average guest rooms | 5.466 million | 5.664 million |
| Occupied guest nights | 1.303 billion | 1.298 billion |
| Average occupancy | 65.8% | 63.6% forecast |
The U.S. hotel industry had 64,165 properties in 2024 and averaged 5.664 million rooms. It recorded 1.298 billion occupied room nights, compared with 1.303 billion in 2019; the two figures are occupied room nights rather than traveler counts.
The AHLA 2024 forecast projected 63.6% occupancy, while the AHLA 2023 series estimated 62.9% and the 2019 comparison was 65.8%. The 2024 occupancy figure must remain labeled as a forecast published before the measurement year, rather than an audited final observation. 2025 Economic Impact of the US Hotel Industry
Hotel Revenue, Pricing, and Hospitality Operating Performance
RevPAR means room revenue divided by available room nights, while ADR means room revenue divided by room nights sold. AHLA figures are industry forecasts; Hilton figures are observed comparable-portfolio measures and should not be treated as national hospitality averages.
| Measure | AHLA U.S. hotels | Hilton global comparable hotels | Hilton U.S. comparable hotels |
|---|---|---|---|
| Occupancy, 2024 | 63.6% forecast | 72.1% | 72.5% |
| ADR, 2024 | — | $159.55 | $167.27 |
| RevPAR, 2024 | $101.82 forecast | $115.09 | $121.34 |
The AHLA 2024 forecast projected nominal U.S. hotel RevPAR at $101.82, 4% above 2023 and more than 17% above 2019. Those comparisons are nominal, so they include price-level effects and do not measure inflation-adjusted real growth.
Hilton’s system-wide comparable hotels reported $115.09 RevPAR, $159.55 ADR, and 72.1% occupancy for the year ended December 31, 2024. Hilton reported comparable RevPAR growth of 2.7% from 2023; its U.S. comparable portfolio recorded $121.34 RevPAR and 72.5% occupancy, while Europe recorded $123.62 RevPAR and 74.6% occupancy. Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. 2024 Form 10-K
Hospitality Taxes, Wages, and Local Economic Contribution
Modeled hotel-industry totals combine direct, indirect, and induced effects where labeled total. They are not equivalent to direct hotel payroll, a household survey tax bill, or a single hotel’s operating results.
| Modeled U.S. hotel-industry impact, 2024 | Amount |
|---|---|
| Total wages, salaries, and compensation | $526.3 billion |
| Direct labor income | $256.3 billion |
| Total taxes | $246.3 billion |
| State and local taxes | $123.0 billion |
| Federal taxes | $123.3 billion |
| Direct lodging-tax impact | $26.0 billion |
The 2024 model estimates $526.3 billion in total wages, salaries, and compensation, including all modeled effects, versus $256.3 billion in direct labor income. Total taxes reached $246.3 billion, split between $123.0 billion in state and local taxes and $123.3 billion in federal taxes.
Taxes on lodging generated a modeled $26.0 billion in direct impact. The report also allocates total hotel-industry taxes at $1,931 per U.S. household and state and local taxes at $965 per household; these are model-derived allocations, not household tax bills. 2025 Economic Impact of the US Hotel Industry
Global Hotel Growth and Hospitality Workforce Challenges
Company filings provide a useful view of global hotel-platform expansion, but Hilton’s scale is not the scale of the entire hospitality industry. At December 31, 2024, Hilton reported 8,447 properties and 1,268,206 rooms in 140 countries and territories, across managed, franchised, owned, and strategic-partner properties as defined in its filing.
Hilton Honors had 211 million members at that date, with membership up 17% from December 31, 2023. Membership is not a count of active guests or unique annual travelers.
Hilton opened 973 hotels and approximately 98,400 rooms in 2024, while net additions were 904 hotels and approximately 83,000 rooms. Its year-end development pipeline contained 1,432 hotels and approximately 154,200 rooms, and reported net unit growth was 7.3%; pipeline rooms are not guaranteed completed supply. Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. 2024 Form 10-K
AHLA’s 2025 State of the Industry report estimates 2.15 million direct U.S. hotel employees in 2024, a narrower measure than BLS accommodation and food-services payroll employment. In a December 2024 survey, 64.9% of responding hoteliers still faced staffing challenges.
Among surveyed hoteliers addressing staffing, 47.5% said they were raising wages, 19.6% offered more flexible work hours, and 13.4% provided hotel discounts. These are survey responses from the responding sample, not measured shares of every U.S. hotel.
Finally, 72.1% of survey respondents said career-advancement opportunities were better than ever or had remained the same since the pandemic. That is a perception measure, not an objective promotion-rate statistic. 2025 Economic Impact of the US Hotel Industry