STR Global Reports On Daily Figures For 2008

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(News Source: STR Global)

London, England -- STR Global gave its first review of the international hotel market for 2008 in a presentation by James Chappell, Managing Director, to the audience of owners, developers, asset managers and consultants at an event held by real estate advisors Cushman & Wakefield in London last month. The performance data of STR Global showed a reasonable picture for 2008 based on a strong first half year but the slowdown in demand in the last quarter was having a significant if mixed impact across Europe and the Middle East. Additionally, destinations with more mature hotel brand profiles were holding up better than others. 

Reminding the audience that the market was at the correct point of the economic cycle was of limited relief. Using STR Global's daily market data, Chappell was able to drill down into city-by-city detail and reveal considerable intra-regional differences during the exceptionally difficult trading of the last quarter of 2008. 

Within Europe the annual percentage change in revenue per available room for Berlin, London and Vienna fared tolerably well. However, the Barcelona and Prague markets had significant falls for the same period. "What we are able to see is that those markets with a greater proportion of internationally branded hotels have managed to hold their rate better than others", Chappell said. Furthermore, the trend in RevPAR decline over the last quarter illustrated the effect of the economic downturn.

 Selected European cities RevPAR percentage change 2008 (local currency)

	October 08		November 08		December 08		Year-end 2008
	RevPAR	% change	RevPAR	% change	RevPAR	% change	RevPAR	% change
Berlin	€87	+10.5%	€61	-9.2%	€48	-6.5%	€65	+2.6%
London	£107	-5.1%	£101	-10.3%	£85	-3.6%	£101	+2.5%
Vienna	€120	+3.0%	€86	-8.1%	€98	-6.6%	€104	+4.5%
Barcelona	€100	-18.0%	€73	-34.3%	€48	-16.8%	€94	-10.3%
Prague	CZK 2062	-34.9%	CZK 1319	-29.0%	CZK 1230	-28.2%	CZK 1736	-23.6%

Middle Eastern cities had similar variations in RevPAR performance showing that the region is not immune to the global economic woes. The meltdown's impact on the Middle East was somewhat delayed as illustrated by the figures for the change in monthly RevPAR over the final quarter of 2008. Strong recent performances in some cities allow room for further falls.

Selected Middle Eastern cities RevPAR percentage change 2008 (local currency)

	October 08		November 08		December 08		Year-end 2008
	RevPAR	% change	RevPAR	% change	RevPAR	% change	RevPAR	% change
Abu Dhabi	AED 1228	93.5%	AED 1424	72.8%	AED 770	8.9%	AED 891	40.4%
Cairo	EGP 668	33.0%	EGP 652	-5.8%	EGP 482	-26.6%	EGP 588	8.1%
Dubai	AED 1206	17.7%	AED 1208	-15.5%	AED 771	-25.9%	AED 918	-2.2%

 

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