Once again, 2019 came to a close for European hotels with an increase of RevPAR. The last negative RevPAR variation was registered in 2009 after the financial crisis, which affected all markets across Europe. By our partner MKG Consulting
While occupancy was stable in 2019 (72.9% up by +0.3 points) compared to last year, RevPAR growth (+2.4%) was possible thanks to the rise in average prices (+1.9%). Results are very homogeneous across hotel categories. Budget hotels have the highest RevPAR change (+3.4%), thanks to an increase of ADR of 2.9%. Upscale and Upper Upscale hotels are in second place with RevPAR growth by 2.4% and, just behind, midscale and economy hotels registered +2.3% and +2.1% respectively. It’s important to say the current cycle has lasted for 10 years whereas the previous cycle has lasted only 5 years from 2004 to 2008. (see Graph 1: Annual evolution of indicators since 2000).
Almost all markets registered positive results in 2019. The highest RevPAR change goes to Austria (+7.6%), thanks to strong activity in Vienna, its capital, where many cultural and business events were held, especially in the first semester of the year. Hungary and Belgium complete the podium with respective RevPAR increases of +7.1% and +6.1%. Italy, Spain and Portugal are very close with a RevPAR up by +5%. The Spanish market ends the year well after a mixed start, especially in Madrid where COP25 was organized in early December instead of Chile. France and Germany had a contrasting year. The French market suffered from social movements that affected mostly Paris but also some other major cities. Fortunately, the month of June was very good with several international events such as the Women’s Soccer World Cup. Germany’s market registered a slight increase in RevPAR (+1.9%), thanks mainly to growth in ADR (+1.4%). Finally, the Netherlands produced a negative result (-0.5%) after several years of strong growth. The VAT changed from 6% to 9% in 2019, which explains why Dutch market is the only one to have a drop in ADR.
