Money Makers
These San Antonio hotels are among the most lucrative in Texas
When it comes to making money, San Antonio is home to two of the most lucrative hotels in Texas. A new report from San Antonio-based hotel consulting firm Source Strategies Inc. shows both Hotel Emma and JW Marriott Hill Country are among the most profitable spots in Texas for both revenue per room per night and in total revenue per year, respectively.
While Austin lays claim to the biggest share of the state’s top 10 revenue-generating hotels with a whopping six spots on the list, San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston have one each. The other hotel in the top 10 is nearly 50 miles northwest of Waco.
Source Strategies measures the financial success of hotels by an industry yardstick known as revenue per available room per night, or RevPAR.
Based on RevPAR figures, here are the 10 most lucrative Texas hotels for 2017:
- 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
However, at 62.9 percent, San Antonio was a couple of notches below the statewide occupancy average of 64.8 percent, the report says. 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), Fort Worth-Arlington (67.8 percent), and Houston (65.2 percent), according to the Source Strategies report.
“Six of the state’s top hotels by RevPAR are in Austin because Austin is a happening market,” Paul Vaughn, senior vice president of Source Strategies, tells CultureMap.
“The RevPAR for these hotels is so high because demand is high, there is not enough supply to meet the demand and, consequently, hotels can charge higher prices,” Vaughn adds.
While Austin is the revenue-per-hotel-room king among Texas markets, Dallas-Fort Worth — the state’s biggest hotel market — reigns when it comes to overall revenue, the report shows. In 2017, DFW hotels raked in revenue of a little over $3 billion, 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.
But the Hotel Emma isn't the only moneymaker in town. The JW Marriott Hill Country is the No. 3 most lucrative hospitality property in Texas when it comes to total room revenue for the entire year.
Other properties on the list for 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
Start or end the day with a fun horseback ride over the dunes on South Padre Island.Photo courtesy of Visit South Padre Island
The Olive Ranch Cottage is only 73 miles (less than two hours) from San Antonio.Photo courtesy of Airbnb