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