The hotel market in downtown Boston, Back Bay and Cambridge cooled off in July compared to its "rather torrid" pace so far this year, while the suburbs appear to have finally kicked in to gear, according to a new report.

In terms of property size, the smallest hotels fared the best as revenue per available room (RevPAR) growth more than doubled that of the larger hotels, according to Boston-based PKF Consulting.

Overall, the market still improved relative to last year, but at a slower pace than we have seen in the past four months, the report found.

Travelers looking to save money seem to have dominated the market as properties under $150 in rate saw substantial gains in occupancy in July, while those hotels over $150 were essentially flat over last July.

For the first seven months of 2010, the message is clear that occupancy is on the rebound, but rate is still languishing, PKF said in a statement.