Hotel room yield falls, says survey

By Santhosh V Perumal/Business Reporter

A flat occupancy coupled with falling average room rate led Qatar’s hotel industry’s room yield to decline in dollar terms year-to-date (YTD) in July this year, according to Ernst and Young’s (E&Y) survey.
Doha’s hotel room occupancy was flat (YTD) at 66% but average room rate declined by 7%, resulting in a 6.9% fall in rooms’ yield, said the E&Y ‘Middle East Hotel Benchmark Survey’.
However, other Gulf cities had higher room occupancy with Jeddah registering 72%, Makkah (79%), Madina (69%), Abu Dhabi (77%), Al Ain (70%), Dubai - apartments (85%), Dubai - beach (83%), Dubai - city (81%) and Dubai - overall (82%), it said.
The other cities where hotel room occupancy was lower than that in Doha were Manama at 28% (against 65% in July 2010), Muscat 65% (69%) and Riyadh 62% (58%); while Kuwait’s was flat at 56%.
The average room rate in Doha fell to $266 and accordingly rooms yield sank to $176 YTD in July, whereas Manama witnessed a sharp 60.8% plunge in rooms yield to $66 as average room rate and occupancy fell 10.1% and 37% respectively.
However, in July alone, Doha hotels’ occupancy rate was up 4% and average room rate rose 3.9% to $235 leading to a 13.1% jump in rooms’ yield to $116.
In the case of Saudi Arabia, Jeddah witnessed a 1.5% YTD growth in average room rate to $213 and rooms yield by 0.8% to $154 despite a flat occupancy. With occupancy rate up 2% and average room rate rising 1.8% to $135, Madina hotels’ rooms yield climbed 4.9% to $94.
In Makkah, the occupancy rate was up YTD 3% and average room rate by 4.4% to $194, leading to a 9.2% rise in rooms yield to $155 and in Riyadh, occupancy was up 4% but average room rate fell by 0.5% to $234, yet translating as 6.3% rise in rooms yield to $146.
In the UAE, Dubai (overall) witnessed an 8.1% rise in rooms yield to $183 as average room rate rose 2.4% to $222 on a 4% rise in occupancy whereas Abu Dhabi saw a 3.9% fall in rooms yield to $165 on an 8.7% decline in average room rate to $213 although there was a 4% rise in occupancy.
Dubai-City witnessed a 6% jump in occupancy and rooms yield rose 5.6% to $142 despite a 1.9% fall in average room rate to $174. In the case of Dubai-Beach, a 2% rise in occupancy and an 8.3% in average room rate to $324 led to a higher 11.1% rise in rooms yield to $272.
Dubai-Apartments rooms yield growth was limited to a marginal 0.6% at $98 as average room rate fell 2.2% to $115 even though occupancy rose 2%. 
In the case of Al Ain, hotel rooms yield plunged 9.4% to $112 on a 6.3% fall in average room rate to $159 and occupancy rate fell 2%.
Kuwait, where hotel occupancy was flat, witnessed a 5.1% rise in rooms yield to $156 as there was a 5.2% growth in average room rate to $279; while in Muscat, which saw a 4% fall in occupancy rate, the hotel rooms’ yield sunk 4.8% to $135 despite a 1.5% rise in average room rate to $206.

Source:-

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=456641&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16