European hotel results in March 2019 are illustrated by a perfectly stable occupancy rate. With a few notable exceptions, prices are what keep RevPAR afloat. What developments can we expect in April after three consecutive months of stagnant performances? Will Easter celebrations and periods of fair weather combined with the resumption of festivals help boost performances? We' ll have a response next month. In the meantime, back to March which was as gloomy as the previous two months.
With an occupancy rate down -1.6 point on the budget segment, results are only slightly better for the economy (+0.1 point), midscale (+0.3 point) and upscale (+0.2 point) segments compared to March 2018. Year to date, occupancy rate performances are not much better with stagnation at +0.1 point and the budget segment down -0.3 point. The same trend may be observed over the last 12 months with an OR stagnating at +0.6 point, with the budget segment down slightly by -0.8 point.
Overall, European countries in the panel report a RevPAR at +1.1% compared to March 2018 driven by a +1.2 point increase in prices. The budget segment maintains a price increase by +2.5% for a stable RevPAR (31.5€ exVAT), the economy segment posts prices at +0.4% for a RevPAR at +0.6% (49.9€ exVAT). For the midscale, the RevPAR is up +1.7% (62.5€ exVAT) driven by prices up +1.3% and an OR at +0.3 point. The upscale progresses by +1.1% (93.7€ exVAT), with ADRs up slightly by +0.8% and the OR up by +0.2%.
Across all segments, the RevPAR is up +1.1% to reach 64.9€ exVAT with average daily rates at 93.4€ exVAT, or +1.2% and an OR identical to that in March 2018 or 69.5%.
Disparate hotel performances
This less than encouraging trend needs to be qualified because some continue to do well.
Austria is in the spotlight with a RevPAR that jumped +15.5%, driven by an increase in OR by +5.5 points and average daily rates that increased by +7.7%. Vienna posted a RevPAR of +17.3%. Luxembourg also posted a good month of March with a RevPAR up 9.3% (€107.7 exVAT), this time driven up by average daily rates (+6.1%), while OR increased by 2.2 points. Poland follows with a RevPAR up +7.9% (€40.4 exVAT) with an OR up +3.5 points (second best growth...
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