Hotels worldwide still struggling

Global hotel occupancy levels and revenues remained subdued for October.

Both the US and Asia/Pacific posted falls in all three key performance indicators for October, according to a report by STR Global.

Only Europe saw mixed results with some cities posting double-digit growth in occupancy and RevPAR – while others saw sharp falls.

In the US the industry’s occupancy fell 6.2 percent to end the month at 58.1 percent.

Average daily rate dropped 8.2 percent to finish the month at US$99.08.

RevPAR for the month decreased 13.8 percent to finish at US$57.57.

“Transient occupancy continued the improvement it has shown in the recent months; however, this slight rebound has not resulted in any meaningful change in the rate of ADR declines,” said Mark Lomanno, president of STR.

“It appears it will take a few more months of better demand results before any pricing rebound occurs.”

Asia/Pacific hotels also posted grim results for this October compared to October 2008.

Elizabeth Randall, managing director of STR Global, said:

“Coming into the last quarter of 2010, which compares to very weak comparables at the end of 2008, all sub-regions across Asia/Pacific saw occupancy stabilising in the month of October, helping to soften RevPAR decline by only 3.1 % overall.

“However great it is to see monthly improvements, hotels across the region have lost US$22.04 in RevPAR value year-to-date compared to year-to-October 2008.”

Sydney was the star city performer worldwide beating both London and New York in terms of hotel occupancy rates in October.

The city had an 88% occupancy rate – 10% up compared to October 2008 – compared to London’s 86.4% and New York’s 84.8%.

The worst performing city last month was Beijing with a 63% occupancy rate, according to the latest data from STR.

Sydney also saw the largest revenue per available room (RevPAR) increase, jumping 43.8 % to US$141.84.

Europe meanwhile saw mixed results with some huge increases in occupancy in certain cities mirrored by double-digit falls in others.

Tel Aviv reported the largest occupancy increase, jumping 33.2 % to 78.1 %.

Four other markets experienced occupancy increases of more than 5%: Cardiff (+9.3 % to 79.1 %); Venice (+7.1 % to 69.1 %); Rome (+7.0 % to 77.7 %); and Düsseldorf (+6.1 % to 67.4 %).

Lisbon posted the largest occupancy decline, falling 9.3 % to 68.1 %, followed by Athens (-8.7 % to 73.6 %), and Budapest (-8.6 % to 63.2 %).

Europe also posted the best monthly RevPAR improvement, but still posted a fall compared to the year before of 1.6%.

This was also from a low base as Europe was the first region that saw strong RevPAR declines.

Randall said: “Europe saw the best monthly RevPAR improvement compared to the other three global regions

“Eastern Europe remained one of the harder-hit European sub-regions in October whilst average room rates improved across Southern and Western Europe”.