Keying in on revenue

Uptown Dallas hotel occupies top spot among Texas’ most lucrative lodgings

The Ritz is raking it in.

Courtesy photo

The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas has retained its crown as the top moneymaking hotel in Texas, according to a new report.

The report, issued by San Antonio-based Source Strategies Inc., shows that based on revenue per available room (RevPAR) — a key financial indicator in the hotel industry — the Ritz-Carlton ranked as the most lucrative Texas hotel in the first quarter of this year. It had held the No. 2 spot in the first quarter of 2018 but moved up to No. 1 in the fourth quarter.

The Ritz-Carlton’s RevPAR jumped from $337 in the first quarter of 2018 to $345.36 in the first quarter of 2019, according to Source Strategies.

Paul Vaughn, senior vice president of Source Strategies, attributes the Ritz-Carlton’s success, in part, to its desirable location in Uptown Dallas.

“It is a high-end luxury brand, and they charge a premium for their rooms. And people are willing to pay,” Vaughn says. “The amount of money they make per room puts them consistently at or near the top of our list.”

Among the top moneymaking hotels in Texas, the Four Seasons Hotel Austin remained at No. 2 from the fourth quarter of last year to the first quarter of this year. However, it had topped the list in the first quarter of 2018, when the Ritz-Carlton held the No. 2 spot.

The 291-room Four Seasons saw its RevPAR slip from $345.95 in the first quarter of 2018 to $344.48 in the first quarter of this year. The first-quarter figure for the Four Seasons is not even $1 less than The Ritz-Carlton’s comparable number.

The Four Seasons “just underwent a three-year renovation,” Vaughn says, “so it looks like they’re getting some good demand out of the recent improvements.”

Even though Dallas’ 218-room Ritz-Carlton reigned as the revenue king of Texas in the first quarter, Austin boasted seven of the state’s 10 most lucrative hotels. Aside from the Four Seasons, they are:

The Driskill at No. 4, with RevPAR of $304.58.
Hotel San José at No. 5, with RevPAR of $287.22.
Hotel Van Zandt at No. 6, with RevPAR of $283.77.
South Congress Hotel at No. 7, with RevPAR of $271.35.
JW Marriott Austin at No. 8, with RevPAR of $257.23.
InterContinental Stephen F. Austin at No. 9, with RevPAR of $248.72.

Vaughn credits SXSW and the recently concluded state legislative session with helping pump up Austin’s hotel performance in the first quarter of this year.

The only other Dallas hotel in the top 10 was Hotel Crescent Court (No. 10), with RevPAR of $248.54. That’s up significantly from $183.28 in the first quarter of 2018, when the hotel ranked 49th in the state for RevPAR. Vaughn says Hotel Crescent Court got a revenue boost from its recent $33 million overhaul.

In San Antonio, Hotel Emma stood its ground, remaining in the No. 3 spot for revenue. In the first quarter of this year, RevPAR reached $304.58, up from $289.52 during the same period last year, according to Source Strategies.

Hotel Emma, a 146-room boutique property at the popular Pearl District, continues to draw accolades from reviewers. For instance, the hotel in January earned a coveted Five Diamond Award from AAA.

The highest-ranking hotel in Houston was the JW Marriott Downtown Houston, at No. 29. RevPAR in the first quarter of this year was $206.37, up slightly from $205.32 during the same period in 2018.

Source Strategies says the Houston hotel market is still struggling in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

“The Houston metro continues to see revenues recede after the strong emergency demand from the end of 2017 and in early 2018,” Todd Walker, president of Source Strategies, says in a release. “Some areas of the metro are performing well, but others have experienced sharp declines in demand, occupancy, and revenues.”

Vaughn says that after Hurricane Harvey hit in August 2017, some hotels in the Houston area “were taken out of service and are slowly filtering back into the market.”

hotels lists luxury rankings uptown

Trucking news

Driverless truck company postpones route between Dallas and Houston

Photo courtesy of Aurora

Driverless semis traveling from Dallas to Houston — originally expected to launch this year — have been put in park until April.

Autonomous truck company Aurora Innovation says it won't start hauling freight without humans on board until April of 2025, a delay from previous statements that commercial service would begin by the end of 2024.

The Pittsburgh company said the April launch of driverless semis traveling from Dallas to Houston — originally announced last year — will be “modestly later” than the company had intended. The company also previously announced a partnership with Uber.

The company told investors on its third-quarter earnings conference call that it has made progress toward ensuring its trucks will operate safely.

Remaining obstacles are “primarily in the areas of some elements of surface street driving and some elements of construction that we see on the freeway,” CEO Chris Urmson said. “We want to have extremely high confidence in the system as we as we go forward.”

The company will start with about 10 autonomous tractor-trailers and move to “tens” of trucks by the end of next year, Urmson said.

“This shift to our timeline will have a negligible financial impact and does not affect our scaling efforts on our path to self-funding," Urmson said.

Aurora also intends to haul freight without human drivers from Fort Worth to Phoenix later in 2025, Urmson said.

Aurora in August added nearly $500 million to its balance sheet with a capital raise in August, which the company expects to fund the initial phases of its strategy to scale up driverless trucking.