Heading into the final days of August, U.S. hotel occupancy (65%) was lower for a fifth consecutive week, which is in line with normal seasonal patterns. The measure was up 0.3 percentage points (ppts) from a year ago but 4.9ppts lower than the 2019 comparable—similar to the previous four weeks. Occupancy is still expected to trend down for the next two weeks and then grow as group/conference travel climbs to its annual peak.