Dubai: Residents and tourists in Dubai continue to see price breaks in the hospitality industry, with new data showing that average room rates have fallen further at hotels across the emirate.
Preliminary figures released by STR analysts on Monday showed that prices for an overnight stay in the city averaged Dh714.01 in January, down by nearly Dh50 from the previous month.
Last December, a night’s stay in a standard room in Dubai cost Dh758.80.
Compared to a year ago, January’s room rates were also cheaper by 11.4 per cent, while hoteliers’ revenue per available room also dropped 15.8 per cent to Dh586.79.
Dubai's hospitality sector is traditionally busy during the winter months, when thousands of people escape the cold temperatures to enjoy a getaway in warmer climes.
Dubai International recorded more than 7.7 million people arriving and departing in the emirate in December alone.
But, despite the huge influx of visitors, hotel operators saw occupancy rates dropped by 4.9 per cent to 82.2 per cent in January.
According to STR, declines are to be expected as thousands of new room continue to come online.
The hotel room supply in Dubai went up by 9.3 per cent in January compared to the same period last year, while demand—or the amount of room nights sold-- went up by 3.9 per cent.
“Year-over-year declines are to be expected with significant supply growth ahead of Expo 2020,” said STR.
“Regardless, demand grew for the fourth consecutive month, and occupancy eclipsed 90 per cent for each of the first three nights of the year.”
As of September 2018, at least six hotels opened in Dubai, adding a total of 1,704 room to the market, according to ValuStrat.
The new properties that opened in the third quarter were Hamptons by Hilton Dubai Airport, with 420 rooms; Occidental IMPZ, with 239 keys; Royal Central Palm Jumeirah, with 207 rooms; and Al Seef by Jumeirah, with 200 keys.
An additional 2,583 rooms are expected to come on stream by 2020, in time for Dubai’s hosting of the World Expo.
