Rebound confirmed in November for Europe’s hotel industry

After a year 2003 that was weak, 2004 should close for European hoteliers with a RevPAR that is generally on an uptrend. In November, occupancy rates and average daily rates of each of the categories were up. The grand prize goes to economic 2* hotels where the RevPAR is up by 8.1% thanks to a 1.5 point increase in occupancy rate and an improvement in the average daily rate by 5.7%. This result largely compensates for the 3.1% drop in 2003. In general, the economy and super economy segments are coming out well. 0* and 1* categories in fact post increases in their RevPARs by 5.4% and 6.2% respectively. At the same time, 3* and 4* the segments are progressing more slowly, posting a RevPAR that is up by 2.2% in 3* and by 1.6% for 4* hotels.Will Hilton continue to invest in this area? An Internet site is not static. We will add new functions. Hilton will invest in the two to three years to come. As Internet represents an increasingly significant share of our sales, and it is close to reaching the critical mass, the vector is strategic.At the end of November, the 12 month balance for Europe’s hotel sector — which will, unless there is an sudden change of excep tional result in December, post results very close to an evolution that will ratify the fiscal year 2004 — shows improvement RevPAR by 4.0% over the year 2003. This result is further to the parallel improvement of global occupancy rates and average daily rates. Nonetheless the trends are not identical from category to category. In fact, it may be observed that the occupancy rate of super-economic segments are very stable in 1* and still on a downtrend for 0*, confirming in 2004, the correction begun last...