After a year filled with mostly declining hotel occupancy numbers, Caribbean hotels are starting to heat up. 

The region’s hotel properties actually had their biggest year-over-year jump of 2025 in December, and the trend continued into January, according to new data from hotel analytics firm STR. 

January saw a 1.8 percent jump in hotel occupancy compared to January 2025, a bigger jump than any month last year. 

That was accompanied by a 4.9 percent increase in average daily rates to $420.35, and a 6.8 percent improvement in revenue per available room. 

Hotel revenues totaled $2.6 billion in January. 

Those are all good signs — and align with what I’ve been hearing on the ground from hoteliers and destinations. It also comes after what was largely seen as a very strong festive season across the board in the region. 

We’ve been seeing strong positive trends within our own analytics across the travel sector in the Caribbean, and this could augur a strong — and very welcome — positive first quarter for the region. 

STR’s data was the result of a survey of 2,115 hotels comprising some 280,892 rooms in the wider Caribbean.