Thanks to the bustling economy, PricewaterhouseCoopers of New York expects U.S. hotel revenue per available room (RevPAR) to increase by 5.6%, which would be the fastest RevPAR growth in four years. The growth rate is higher than the international consulting firm predicted earlier this year.

The RevPAR increase is a direct result of the greatest demand growth the industry has seen in more than 10 years, according to the firm. The company also expects occupancy to average 63.9%, which would mark the first increase in five years.

Despite the optimistic forecast for the rest of 2000, the consulting firm predicts RevPAR growth to slow to 3.5% in 2001 and 3.8% in 2002. However, these increases are also higher than earlier projections.