Hospitality Market Update: Florida Q1 2026 Performance and What It Means for Financing York City

By Max Downing – Originator

Florida’s hotel market has held up well into Q1 2026, and Orlando continues to be the bellwether for the state and one of the most durable hotel markets in the country. The market entered 2026 with 130,464 rooms, 71.6% occupancy, $194.81 ADR, and 34.3 million room nights of demand. Q1 performance has been strong when group and leisure demand align. Occupancy ranged from 65.0% in early January to 89.0% in late February with ADR peaking at $267.96. By late March, occupancy remained in the mid-to-high 70s to mid-80s, with ADR consistently above $240 and RevPAR growth of 6.6% to 8.5% year over year, driven in part by Central/Downtown and Airport submarkets.

The key takeaway in Orlando is that ADR continues to do the heavy lifting. Occupancy has moved week to week based on event timing and convention calendar shifts, but rate integrity has held. Even in softer weeks, Orlando has outperformed. For example, during the week ending February 7, occupancy dipped slightly due to MegaCon shifting, but ADR still held at $228.02, above both Florida and national averages. That’s a strong signal to lenders and investors that pricing power remains intact.

From a financing standpoint, the capital markets are more nuanced than headlines suggest. Life companies are selectively back in the space for the right deals that have strong flags, experienced sponsorship, and 13% debt yields and higher. At the same time, many banks and credit unions remain full or heavily concentrated in hospitality, which creates a wide dispersion in terms. There is more capital available in 2026 and spreads have tightened on select assets, but you need to clear the market today to know you are getting the best execution, because one lender may be out entirely while another is quietly very aggressive on the same deal.