April’s head goes above clouds

As an old French saying : ‘En Avril ne te découvre pas d’un .l’ which means roughly : in April keep your jacket on. Such cautious advice seemed to have been disregarded by the European hoteliers. The increase in room rate registered last month (+7.4%) will have no consequences on the hotel’s activity. Hence the increase in demand reached 70.0%, a 1.8 pt rise.The city waits serenely the Drupa between end of may and beginning of June. The world printing Event takes place every 4 years. Next to Germany another country is also delighted. In the middle of an intense political activity, Belgium goes above the 28% RevPAR growth thanks to rocketing average rate (+19.3%). Another good news : United Kingdom, after a wavering phase, gains momentum (+17.0%). What about Scandinavian countries witnessing outstanding figures above 25% ! Next to them, France, Netherlands and Austria experience more pale results between 5 and 6%. However Spain becomes the European’s hotel activity main deception with a decrease in revPAR of 6.2%.April months come and look alike. 2007 was a excellent year (+8.0%) and 2008 does even better with double figures increase in RevPAR (+10.1%). Intermediary segments illustrate the overall trend. 2* and 3* saw their occupancy rate going up to 2 points whilst average rate rises by more than 11%. The upscale segment follows, not far behind, with an average room rate increase of 9.5%. To a lesser extend, budget segment has witnessed more moderate figures. While, during the last twelve months, the 0* see its RevPAR increase 5.3%, the 1* is a step backward with a 1.9% mainly due to a shortage in demand. On 12 cumulated months, European revenue per room rises to 5.4%. Let’s hope that hotelier will do in May what they have achieved in April.Germany displays results...