Money Makers

This Dallas-area resort makes more money than any other hotel in Texas

The Gaylord boasts the highest hotel revenue in Texas.

Photo courtesy of Gaylord Texan Resort

While Austin may be the revenue-per-hotel-room king among Texas markets, Dallas-Fort Worth — the state’s biggest hotel market — reigns when it comes to overall hotel revenue.

A new report from San Antonio-based hotel consulting firm Source Strategies Inc. shows that in 2017, DFW hotels raked in revenue of a little over $3 billion. The metroplex is followed by Houston (nearly $2.5 billion), Austin (slightly more than $1.4 billion), and San Antonio (just over $1.25 billion). Statewide, hotels pulled in almost $10.9 billion in revenue last year.

Contributing to the staggering DFW figure is Grapevine's Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center, which takes the title for the Texas hotel with the most overall room revenue in 2017. According to the report, the 1,511-room hotel produced room revenue of nearly $89.1 million last year.

Coming in behind the Gaylord property for total room revenue in 2017 are:

JW Marriott Austin — $78.9 million
Hilton Anatole, Dallas — $69.1 million
JW Marriott Hill Country, San Antonio — $65.3 million
Omni Dallas Hotel — $57.2 million
Hilton Americas-Houston — $54 million
Hilton Austin — $52.9 million
Marriott Marquis Houston — $50 million

Source Strategies also measured the financial success of hotels by an industry yardstick known as revenue per available room per night, or RevPAR. Based on RevPAR figures, the Ritz-Carlton in Dallas is the top money-making hotel in Texas. While Dallas boasts the leading cash cow, Austin lays claim to the biggest share of the state’s top 10 revenue-generating hotels, six total.

Based on RevPAR figures, the 10 most lucrative Texas hotels for 2017 are:

Ritz-Carlton, Dallas — $319.96
Four Seasons Hotel Austin — $271.56
Hotel Granduca, Houston — $262.77
W Hotel Austin — $254.17
Hotel San José, Austin — $253.43
The Driskill Hotel, Austin — $251.56
Rough Creek Lodge, Iredell — $243.66
Hotel Emma, San Antonio — $239.47
South Congress Hotel, Austin — $237.75
Westin Austin Downtown — $233.52

Key to Austin’s dominance in the revenue category is the overall occupancy rate. The Austin market enjoyed the state’s highest hotel occupancy rate (74.7 percent) in 2017, followed by Waco (71.8 percent), Dallas (69.6 percent), and Fort Worth-Arlington (67.8 percent), according to the Source Strategies report.

Houston’s occupancy rate for 2017 stood at 65.2 percent, barely above the statewide average of 64.8 percent, the report says. At 62.9 percent, San Antonio was a couple of notches below the statewide average.

The report calls Austin “the heartiest lodging market in Texas,” thanks to a “remarkable” RevPAR of $101.92. No other Texas market had RevPAR above $74.

Holiday News

American Airlines expects record-setting travel on Thanksgiving 2024

Photo courtesy of American Airlines

American Airlines ready for takeoff.

The holidays are looming and American Airlines is ramping up. Over the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend, the Fort Worth-based airline expects to process nearly 8.3 million customers across more than 77,000 flights.

According to a statement from American's COO David Seymour, the airline is having a good fall season and canceled fewer flights than its peers during October.

“Thanks to the hard work of our 130,000 team members, we canceled fewer flights than any of our major competitors this October and beat our own records for on-time departures and arrivals,” Seymour says.

That's surely good news. One hates to rain on their parade, but in June 2024, the only flight I booked this year, my flight was canceled less than 24 hours before take-off. I had made hotel reservations, scheduled a pet sitter, planned events, and arranged for a friend to pick me up at the destination airport. One employee speculated that it may have been "insufficient crew." Their only solution offered was: Feel free to reschedule your flight.

Thanksgiving facts and figures
The travel window runs from November 21 to December 3, and the airline expects to carry more than 500,000 more customers than it did last year.

The most-traveled day will be Sunday, December 1. The second most-traveled day will be Monday, December 2.

The peak of peak: 1,035 mainline and regional aircraft will be enroute at 10:45 am on Sunday, December 1 — the highest number of flights handled at any given time during American’s travel period.

The airline expects to serve more than 6.8 million Biscoff cookies on board from November 21 to December 3.

Travel tips
Download the American Airlines app and check in for your flight, noting added any bags to your trip. This will save you time at the airport.

If traveling internationally, download the Mobile Passport Control app, which can speed up your entry into the U.S. Global Entry members can download the Global Entry app, which allows you to submit your entry and go straight to the officer.

Upon arrival at the airport lobby, scan your mobile boarding pass to print bag tags quickly at a kiosk. If you’re not checking bags, go straight to TSA security with your mobile boarding pass.

holidays