Hotel occupancy performance in Abu Dhabi following the Formula 1 Grand Prix that took place last weekend (11th-13th November) was up compared to 2010, but remained lower than the first race weekend in 2009, according to STR Global, the leading provider of market data to the world's hotel industry.
Demand growth in Dubai's hotel industry was up 16.5 percent year-to-date August compared to the previous year, according to STR Global, the leading provider of market information to the global hotel industry. However, demand growth in terms of total rooms occupied and new hotel supply were unequally spread between all six segments tracked.
Dubai’s hotels witnessed an increase in occupancy of 3.3 per cent in December as compared to the same month in 2009 to reach 71 per cent during 2010, said a report. However, the city’s hotels witnessed a decline of 4.2 per cent in revenue per available room (RevPAR) to reach $154 during YTD December 2010, said an analysis of selected STR Global hotel performances by Deloitte, a leading professional services firm.
The new year will see stronger signs of recovery by the hospitality sector given the upward trends seen in the last quarter of 2010. UAE’s hospitality and tourism sector has been showing signs of resurgence with higher occupancy rates driven by a surge in tourist arrivals towards the fag end of 2010. However, with thousands of new rooms being added to the markets in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, there has been a slight drop in the overall revenue per available room, or RevPAR, last year.
Room prices at Dubai’s Armani Hotel, which occupies the first six floors of the Burj Khalifa, are trading at 40 percent down from the published rates at launch, Arabian Business can reveal. Seven months after its opening, a standard room at the 160-room Armani hotel will now set back guests AED2,400 ($653) compared to a rate card price of AED4,000 at the end of April. The cost of a two bedroom suite, originally priced at AED40,000, can now be snapped up for AED24,000, according to the hotel’s reservations desk.
Dubai’s hospitality sector continues to outperform other markets in the world as the emirate recorded the highest occupancy rate during the first eight months of the year compared to other selected key regions in the same period, according to a latest study. Hotels in Dubai topped in occupancy rate that reached to the level of 69.7 per cent after witnessing a 2.8 per cent rise, compared to same period a year ago, according to Deloitte’s analysis of STR Global Hotel Performance Data for the Middle East.
Riyadh is leading the way in the hospitality market recovery for Saudi Arabia, according to a new report by real estate investment and advisory firm, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), with occupancy levels for "quality hotels" rising to 69 per cent at the end of the second quarter of this year.