Despite Italy's Debt Crisis, Hotel Performance in 2011 Was Favorable

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According to STR Global, hotel performance in Italy shows a generally favorable view, as measured by year-on-year percentage change for the year-to-date October 2011 for the key performance indicators of occupancy, average daily rate and revenue per available room.

Some markets, however, still are reporting performance decreases. These include Rome Airport Eur-Fiumicino with a fall in RevPAR of 5.3 percent; compared with RevPAR growth for Rome's other submarkets. Similarly, the sub-market of Milan Linate - San Donato - Assago reported a RevPAR decrease of 1.7 percent when the rest of Milan shows RevPAR growth. See chart below.

Significant recent growth in the number of Italian hotels sampled by STR Global has resulted in more detailed reporting with the addition of 11 new markets and sub-markets to give a total of 52 markets across the country.  Since December 2010, some 100 hotels have been added, enabling STR Global to now report on more than 600 hotels across Italy.

The new markets in Italy comprise further subdivisions of the Rome market including Rome Central Station and Rome Villa Borghese-Quirinale. Similarly in Turin, Italy's fourth largest metropolitan area, the market has been split between Turin City Centre and Turin Surroundings. Meanwhile, Milan sees the addition of five new sub-markets, Milan Fiera City, Milan Garibaldi-Centrale-BuenosAires, Milan Linate-San Donato-Assago, Milan North and Milan West-Rho Fiera, joining the Milan City Centre market. Salento, the "heel' of Italy, is a new destination that's been split into Lecce City and Salento Excluding Lecce City.

"The growth of the sample of hotels in Italy allows STR Global to provide data at an even more detailed level for the benefit of all our existing and future customers," said Elizabeth Randall, managing director of STR Global.