Financial Times reports that Ultra Luxury Hotels have the highest growth rate

Valerie Charoux
6 hours ago
2 min read

Hotel Investment News - Financial Times reports that ultra-luxury hotels have by far the highest growth rate while budget hotels are in the red, according to the report “World’s priciest hotels charge record prices in defiance of luxury slowdown” dated February 9^th, 2026:

Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) for Ultra Luxury hotels has registered an annual growth rate of 10.6% in 2025 compared to 2024, that is more than triple the annual growth rate of the hotel sector as a whole, according to data from the analysis firm CoStar, published by the Financial Times.

Prices soar at the world’s most luxurious hotels with the most expensive hotels having a higher growth rate and the least expensive hotels proportionately ranging from having a low growth rate to a decline in 2025.

Here is the average growth rate of luxury hotels compared to cheaper hotels in 2025:

1 – Ultra-luxury hotels

Ultra-luxury hotels rank No 1 highest growth rate in 2025 with an average annual growth rate globally of nearly 11% compared to 2024.

The average daily price for an ultra-luxury room reached a record high of $1,245 in 2025, an increase of more than 8% compared to 2024. Despite this price increase, occupancy rates rose by 2.3%, showing that the most luxurious hotels are the ones that represent the best investment in the hotel industry and the contrast with cheaper luxury hotels is significant.

2 – Luxury hotels

Luxury hotels rank 2^nd highest growth rate in 2025 with an average annual growth rate globally of nearly 6% compared to 2024.

3 – Upper upscale hotels

Upper upscale hotels rank 3^rd highest growth rate in 2025 with an average annual growth rate globally of 3% compared to 2024, that is already half the growth rate compared to Luxury hotels.

4 – Upscale hotels

Upscale hotels rank 4^th highest growth rate in 2025 with an average annual growth rate globally of 2% compared to 2024, that is already half the growth rate compared to Luxury hotels.

5 – Upper Midscale hotels

Upper Midscale hotels rank 5^th highest growth rate in 2025 with an average annual growth rate globally with only around 0.5% compared to 2024.

6 – Midscale hotels

Midscale hotels rank 6^th in the ranking of hotels by growth rate in 2025 with an average annual decline globally compared to 2024.

7 – Budget hotels

Budget hotels and economy hotels rank 7^th in the ranking of hotels by growth rate in 2025 with an average annual decline globally of more than -1% compared to 2024.