Daily Business Report: Wednesday, December 31
Hotel Market Outlook 2026: A Market-by-Market Analysis
by Robert Rauch | Hotel Guru
2.3% at $213, down 1% from last year and down in every submarket last month
San Diego continues to rank among California’s strongest hotel markets, with 12-month occupancy above 70%, reaching 72.3% through November 2025. This performance reflects the region’s highly diversified demand base, supported by leisure tourism, military and government travel, a robust convention calendar, and steady corporate activity.
However, the momentum that carried the market through late 2024 and early 2025 has begun to moderate. Softer domestic leisure demand, combined with reduced government-related travel, contributed to weaker performance during peak months. For the 12 months ending October, RevPAR changed by -0.9%, signaling soft summer results and a cooling trend following last year’s strong gains. Market participants also note a cooling trend in theme-park visitation and a normalization of cruise-related hotel demand after a surge in early 2024.
Mayor Todd Gloria Set Out to Fix the City’s Deficit This Year. He Didn’t.
By Mariana Martínez Barba | Voice of San Diego
On Jan. 15, Mayor Todd Gloria had a message for the city: This is the year of austerity.
He was determined to “right-size” the ship and finally tackle the city’s more than $300 million deficit. With the city reeling from the failure of a sales tax increase Gloria said he would take on the responsible stewardship of “every dollar.”
Early on, he got rid of the city’s chief operating officer, proposed cuts to libraries, and crafted a paid parking plan for Balboa Park. He talked about looking at the way we’ve done things and analyzing if that’s how we should continue. He also asked city departments to hunker down on their budgets and issued a hiring freeze.
Border Report: This Year We Learned Immigration Officials Expanded Their Power
By Kate Morrissey| Voice of San Diego
State violence is nothing new in the border region.
Many of those leading transborder lives in San Diego and Tijuana have witnessed or even experienced the increased power and, sometimes, impunity, that Customs and Border Protection officials wield within range of the border. This year, that authority — and violence — expanded to the interior of the United States.
In 2010, border officials killed an undocumented immigrant in the process of deporting him at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Since then, the widow of Anastasio Hernández Rojas has fought to preserve his memory and to get some kind of justice for his death. His case, she told me earlier this year, is not just about him, but about all of the families who have lost loved ones to U.S. border officials’ violence.
