Bountiful beds

Uptown Dallas luxury hotel checks in as most lucrative lodging in Texas

The Ritz-Carlton towers above all other hotels in Texas.

A Dallas luxury hotel remains the king of lodging revenue generators in Texas. A report released December 3 by San Antonio-based hotel consulting firm Source Strategies Inc. found that The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas retains its status as the No. 1 moneymaker among Texas hotels.

In the third quarter of this year, the hotel posted revenue per available room per day (RevPAR) of $330.96, up from $293.22 during the same period in 2018. The Ritz-Carlton was the only Texas hotel to surpass the $300 mark for RevPAR in the third quarter of 2019.

RevPAR is a key indicator of a hotel’s financial performance.

Elsewhere in Dallas, The Joule grabbed the No. 5 spot in Texas, with RevPAR of $233.63 in the third quarter of this year, and Hotel Crescent Court came in at No. 7 ($228.69). In the third quarter of last year, Hotel Crescent Court ranked 24th statewide. Two hotels in Grapevine — the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention and Grand Hyatt DFW — checked in at No. 17 ($203.12) and No. 18 ($202.19), respectively.

Other DFW hotels in the top 30 for the third quarter of this year were:

No. 20 — Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas, $200.61
No. 21 — La Meridien Dallas, $196.67
No. 22 — Hotel Zaza in Dallas, $195.46
No. 29 — W Dallas-Victory Hotel, $179.91

“Despite adding approximately 4,000 net new rooms compared to the third quarter of 2018, the Dallas metro still had an occupancy rate above the state average and saw RevPAR rise by $2. You can expect rates and RevPAR to rise as continued strong demand catches up to this new-supply influx,” says Paul Vaughn, senior vice president of Source Strategies.

While a Dallas hotel led the revenue ranks statewide, Austin claimed the title for the Texas market with the most hotels among the state’s top 30 moneymakers.

At the top of the hotel heap in Austin was Lake Austin Spa Resort, with RevPAR of $233.70 in the third quarter of 2019, up from $196.20 during the same period last year. That catapulted Lake Austin Spa to No. 4 statewide in this year’s third quarter, compared with No. 26 at the same time last year.

Among the other top third-quarter performers in the Austin area were:

No. 8 — Four Seasons Hotel Austin, $227.01
No. 9 — South Congress Hotel, $226.95
No. 10 — Hotel San José, $223.64
No. 11 — W Austin, $222.92
No. 12 — The Driskill, $216.89
No. 13 — Kimpton Hotel Van Zandt, $214.86
No. 14 — JW Marriott Austin, $208.54
No. 15 — Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa in Bastrop County, $207.76

“The Austin metro continues to have the most consistently exuberant market in recent years. RevPAR was nearly $8 higher than the third quarter of 2018 and more than $20 higher than any other major metro in the state,” Vaughn says. “Occupancy was also near the highest in the state, leaving room for higher rates and more lodging additions to the Austin market.”

While Austin beat all other Texas markets for the number of hotels among the state’s top 100 for RevPAR, hotels in San Antonio laid claim to the No. 2 and No. 3 rankings.

At No. 2, Hotel Emma posted RevPAR of $252.87 in this year’s third quarter, compared with $238.45 at the same time in 2018. One notch down, at No. 3, was the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa, with RevPAR of $239.31 versus $204.53 during the same period last year.

Two other San Antonio hotels appeared in the top 30:

Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort, at No. 19, achieved RevPAR of $200.89 in the third quarter versus $184.15 during the same period in 2018. A year ago, the property sat in the No. 32 spot statewide.
La Cantera Resort & Spa, at No. 24, rang up third-quarter RevPAR of $191.17, up from $180.15 during the same period in 2018. A year ago, the property held the No. 43 revenue spot.

“The San Antonio metro had the second highest RevPAR of the top five Texas metros, with occupancy above the state average,” Vaughn says. “Lodging-demand growth over the last decade has consistently increased faster than the rate of new-supply additions, leaving room for new lodging options to enter the market.”

The lone Houston property in the state’s top 30 during the third quarter was The Post Oak Hotel at Uptown Houston. At No. 16, it registered RevPAR of $206.04, up substantially from $118.17 in the third quarter of 2018. A year ago, the property ranked 235th for RevPAR in Texas. The hotel, owned by Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta, opened in the spring of 2018.

While the Houston area’s hotels saw an overall rise in revenue in the third quarter, the region “still has a long way to go,” Todd Walker, president of Source Strategies, says in a release. RevPAR and occupancy in Houston, he notes, are far below the other major Texas metro areas, “as the Houston market is still vastly oversupplied and there is a preponderance of older, lower-priced lodging properties.”

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DART News

Dallas section of Cotton Belt Trail near DART Silver Line finds funds

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A trail in the works for north Dallas has received an infusion of cash: The Cotton Belt Trail, located northwest of Dallas and planned as a regional trail corridor, will receive federal funds from the Regional Transportation Council (RTC).

The trail currently stretches 19.84 miles, stretching between North Richland Hills and Grapevine, with two additional sections in North Richland Hills and Carrollton. There are currently gaps between Grapevine and Carrollton, and another gap between Carrollton and Richardson, across Addison and north Dallas.

The funding was originally supposed to be funded city by city, says Dallas City Council member Carah Mendelsohn.

“We were told each city along the Silver Line would have to fund its portion of the trail project, but we worked together to get funding,” Mendelsohn says. “This RTC funding saves the City of Dallas approximately $7 million and helps complete a vision years in the making. We now have funding for the final unfunded segment of the Cotton Belt Trail in District 12, as well as the missing link of the Marni Kaner Trail needed to complete the North Dallas Triangle."

The North Dallas Triangle is a 4-mile urban trail circuit linking the Preston Ridge, Cotton Belt, and Marni Kaner Trails. When complete, this amenity will provide seamless access, enhanced further by upgrades to Preston Green and Campbell Green Parks, and the new Davenport Trailhead.

With design already underway and construction beginning next month, this 26-mile trail will follow the path of the Silver Line rail from Plano to DFW Airport, ultimately linking to Tarrant County and extending to Fort Worth.

The Cotton Belt Trail follows the former St. Louis Southwestern Railway, nicknamed the Cotton Belt Line, which began running in the late 1800s and was discontinued in the 1970s.

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