Dubai: Hotels in Dubai registered occupancy levels of 87.6 per cent in February, aided by several events held during the month, according to the latest HotStats report, published by TRI Hospitality Consulting.
Some of the crowd-pulling events include the Dubai Polo Gold Cup Series 2014, Emirates Airline Dubai Jazz Festival 2014, and the Dubai Food Festival 2014.
While hotels in Abu Dhabi registered 80.2 per cent occupancy during the month, average room rates (ARR) fell 18.1 per cent to $162.46 (Dh596.71).
“The substantial decline in ARR in Abu Dhabi this February was due to exceptional rates that were achieved during the hosting of IDEX [International Defence Exhibition] in 2013. Since the event occurs on a biennial basis, Abu Dhabi did not host it this year and hoteliers were unable to yield the same average rates, which reached $198.45 in February 2013,” Christopher Hewett, senior consultant at TRI Hospitality Consulting, told Gulf News.
Revenue per available room (RevPAR — a benchmark for performance) dropped 14.6 per cent to $130.36, while total revenue per available room (TRevPAR) fell 8.5 per cent to $273.68. Profitability declined 20.5 per cent to $90.83.
In Dubai hotels, ARR rose 8.7 per cent to $366.99 compared to February last year, which resulted in RevPAR to reach $321.59, up 7.3 per cent. TRevPAR grew by 5.8 per cent to $554.93.
The recovery of the economy and a rise in visitor numbers in Dubai resulted in hotel food and beverage revenues growing by 4 per cent and 3.8 per cent, respectively. In addition, gross operating profits per available room (GOPPAR) rose 8.6 per cent to $282.09, helped by a reduction in payroll costs.
Elsewhere in the region, hotels in Kuwait recorded 48.4 per cent occupancy levels in February, marking a 10.2 per cent decline compared to the same month a year ago. RevPAR was down 16.4 per cent to $135.91.
Similarly, Sharm Al Shaikh hotels posted a 1 per cent drop in occupancy to 57.7 per cent, while RevPAR was down 12.4 per cent to $22.20.
Jeddah hotels, meanwhile, saw occupancy grow by 1.5 per cent to 79.3 per cent and RevPAR by 7.2 per cent to $199.98
