RevPAR rates in all 40 cities fell into negative territory in the first quarter of 2009, according to the finding in the latest edition of the European Hotel Review, published by STR Global.

But the smallest fallers were all attributed to Germany – Cologne (-6.6%), Hamburg (-7.5%), Frankfurt (-9.9%), Munich (-12.3%), and Berlin (-14.0%).

The report sampled 2,245 hotels and more than 400,500 guestrooms, and provides a detailed analysis of hotel performance in terms of occupancy, average daily rate and RevPAR at the global, national and market levels.

The next five markets (Salzburg, Austria, Zurich, Glasgow, Helsinki and Rome), RevPAR decreases range from 14.5 percent to 16.3 percent.

Paris showed a fall of 17.2 percent (13th position) and London had a decrease of 20.3 percent (18th position).

Moscow came out worst, 40th place, with a decrease of 41.7 percent.

The Russian capital was just pipped by Düsseldorf, the sixth and last of the German cities in the review, which had a fall of 34.5 percent, in 39th position.

In spite of the poor performance of Düsseldorf, due to a couple of non-annual trade shows in 2008 that do not return to the city until 2011, the picture for Germany at the national level remain healthy.

Germany shares a joint top position alongside Israel, with an 11.5-decrease in RevPAR, the lowest decrease in year-to-date RevPAR for 2009 compared with 2008 of the 29 countries reviewed.

STR said: “In what is a series of grim, negative statistics the performance by Germany’s cities indicates not only a commendable level of skill by revenue managers but is also reflective of Germany’s economic performance and a reasonable level of consumer confidence.”