Mixed results for European hotels

As the recession has fort to deter people from travelling there has been some improvement on room rates for Western Europe. In contrast Eastern Europe was hit by a slump in rates and occupancy over the past year to the end of October according to STR Global, a hotel industry researcher. Rooms in Moscow fell by 35 per cent in October to just €156 per room and Prague’s average room rate dropped by 28 per cent to €79. Both also lost revenue per available room (revPAR) with Moscow down almost 40 per cent and Prague at just above 30 per cent.

Lisbon in Portugal had the worst occupancy rate for the time period with an average of 68.1 per cent. Athens and Budapest did not do much better with a quiet summer affecting their predicted revPAR. Some cities to improve included the romantic Italian cities of Rome and Venice and the Welsh capital Cardiff all reporting and increase in both revPAR and occupancy. Over to Israel where Tel Aviv come out on top overall with a 33 per cent increase in occupancy and their revPAR increasing by 20 per cent to €118.

Many hotels have struggled over the world in the past year and one of the worst affected has been Thailand where tourist numbers dropped by almost half. This was a multitude of factors including political tensions, airport closures and the outbreak of swine flu. The next year is already looking better with hotels booking up already on the same time last year and rates stabalising.