UAE leads in MENA hospitality performance: HotStats
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The recent HotStats survey of full service hotels across seven MENA cities revealed that hotels in Abu Dhabi posted a 31.3% growth in RevPar. The August figures were disclosed by TRI Hospitality Consulting.
Average occupancy at four and five star chain hotels in Abu Dhabi reached 63.1%, growing by 12.4 percentage points, while Average Daily Rates (ADR) increased to US$112.12, up by 5.5% compared to 2012. As a result, Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) for the month increased by 31.3% to US$70.74 while Total Revenue Per Available Room (TRevPAR) increased by 24.2% to US$159.00.
However, the effect of a 7.7 percentage points rise in payroll costs drove Gross Operating Profit Per Available Room (GOPPAR) up from the previous year to US$13.21.
Hotels in Dubai also saw positive performance. An 11.3% rise in ADR to US$228.99 coupled with an 8.5 percentage points rise in occupancy to 71.3% drove RevPAR up by 26.4% to US$163.35. A 20.1% growth in TrevPAR drove a 98.3% increase in GOPPAR to US$70.63.
The Eid holidays also benefited Kuwait which witnessed an occupancy increase of 3.4 percentage points 37.0% while ADR grew 12.0% to US$271.72, causing a 23.3% increase in RevPAR during the month. Despite low occupancy levels, average rates for the month of August exceeded year-to-date levels of US$269.48. Coupled with a decline in payroll costs, rise in revenues filtered through to the bottom line, with GOPPAR increasing 61% to US$86.54.
Unfortunately, Cairo hotels continue to suffer with occupancy to the lowest level since 2011. The decline was 22.1 percentage points to 20.4%, driving RevPAR 44.7% lower to US$24.41. Due to the depreciation of the Egyptian pound against the US dollar, low performance was not reflected in average rates which grew 15.2% to US$119.62. The plummet in TrevPAR and increase in operating profits corresponded to GOPPAR declining 96.9% to $1.13.
The security situation in Cairo did not impact Sharm El Sheikh as heavily, as the majority of bookings were obtained through tour operators earlier in the year. With rates generally secured in the Red Sea destination, ARR increased 13.4% to $52.66. However, occupancy was 12.7 percentage points lower compared to the same period last year and caused RevPAR to decline 7.2% to $30.10. The 9.6 percent reduction in TRevPAR, coupled with an increase in operating expenses resulted in GOPPAR levels declining 28.2% to $16.43.
Jeddah recorded the lowest occupancy levels of the year due to intensive competition from other regional destinations such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Although average rates increased 6.2% to US$273.54 during the month, a 10.1 percentage point drop in occupancy to 69.0% dragged the RevPAR down by 7.3% to US$188.85. The decline in top line revenues coupled with the 7.0% retraction in TRevPAR resulted in GOPPAR falling 12.8% to $139.73.
After several months of low performance due to the effects of seasonality, RevPAR showed improvements in Riyadh during August. Occupancy increased by a marginal 1.5 percentage points to 32.0% and average rates grew 4.6% to US$226.02 driving RevPAR upwards by 9.9% to US$72.30. Nonetheless, low operating profits and higher payroll costs resulted in a fall in GOPPAR to US$37.93.
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