December 22, 2023
Thank you for following our College Submarket Matchups series this Fall! As the college football season draws to an end, The Plasencia Group is pleased to present its 2023 Top 25 College Submarket Hospitality Rankings.
Download the Top 25 College Submarkets for 2023 PDF.
Previously:
Week 1: The Southeastern Conference
Week 2: The Big Ten Conference
Week 3: The Atlantic Coast Conference
Week 4: The PAC12 + BIG 12 Conferences
Week 5: Ivy League
How we ranked the submarkets
We heavily weighted both enrollment growth and RevPAR growth in our ranking formula in order to capture college towns that currently booming.
Our ranking formula takes into account various statistics, including:
- Football stadium capacity
- Football winning percentage since 2018
- Football National Championships
- Heisman Trophy winners
- 2023 undergraduate enrollment
- Undergraduate enrollment growth since 2018
- T-12 submarket RevPAR
- Submarket RevPAR growth since 2019 (pre-pandemic)
A Few Observations About Our Results
The Top 10 is made up largely of submarkets that are home to stalwart football programs and growing enrollments. Not surprisingly, six of the Top 10 towns (and ten of the Top 15) are in Sunbelt states, which have seen great hotel performance in the wake of the pandemic. Interestingly, Ivy League contender Yale came in at #8, driven by a rich football history that dates back to the 1800s, and strong enrollment and RevPAR growth.
Other notable entrants in the Top 25 include Tempe, home of Arizona State University, which boasts both the largest and fastest growing student body in the nation, and Eugene, which is home to the University of Oregon and has seen a nation-leading 38.2% increase in RevPAR since 2019.
And the Winner for 2023 Is…
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, home of the Louisiana State University Tigers, takes the top spot in our rankings this Fall, driven by an incredible football program (five National Championships and this year’s Heisman Trophy winner), rapidly growing student body (22.0% growth since 2018), and consistently improving hotel market (21.9% RevPAR growth since 2019).
And Rounding Out the Top 25 …
Thank you for following along with our College Town rankings this football season. We hope our final rankings prove less controversial than those of the College Football Playoff!
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