An uplift in room occupancy levels helped drive growth in revenue and profit for hotels in the Middle East and Africa (MENA) in December 2017, according to the latest worldwide poll of full-service hotels from HotStats.
Although hotels in the Middle East & Africa suffered a 2.9% drop in achieved average room rate in December, to US$189.18, a 3.1% increase in room occupancy, to 66.6%, helped drive a 1.8% increase in RevPAR, to $125.94 (compared to December 2016 figures).
While an increase in volume was achieved across most segments, it was at the expense of a decline in achieved average room rate in the Residential Conference (-4.6%), Individual Leisure (-8.2%) and Group Leisure (-9.2%) sector rates.
The uplift in volume contributed to an increase in Non-Rooms Revenues, including Food & Beverage (+5.0%) and Conference & Banqueting (+4.1%), which supported a 2.3% increase in total revPAR in December 2017, to $225.14.
It would appear there is pressure on wages. In addition to the growth in TrevPAR, profit levels at hotels in the Middle East and Africa were further boosted by a 0.7-percentage point saving in Payroll.
“The diversity of hotel markets across the Middle East & Africa and their key demand drivers means it always going to be a mixed bag of top and bottom line performance, but this year has been particularly volatile due to the ongoing oil crisis, political and economic instability and security concerns. It is, therefore, pleasing to report such a positive month of trading for hotels in the region at the end of 2017 and we look forward to profit performance recovering further in 2018,” said Pablo Alonso, CEO of HotStats.
One particularly strong performing hotel market in December 2017 was Abu Dhabi, where growth in revenue was led by a 9% increase in RevPAR, to $117.33. Hotels in the emirate recorded an increase in both room occupancy (+3.6%) and achieved average room rate (+4%).
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