Goppar up in Europe

Hotels in mainland Europe saw the third consecutive month of year-over-year goppar gains for hotels in the region in November, according to data from HotStats.

Goppar was up 4.8% in the month over the same time last year, but was down 1.3% year-to date, while revpar was up 1.2% year-to-date.

The company said that November saw revpar up 4.2% year-on-year, buoyed by a 1.9% increase in average rate and a 1.6-percentage-point uptick in occupancy to 72.5%. In addition to gains on the rooms side, total F&B revenue on a per-available-room basis was up 1.3%, while Conference & Banqueting revenue on a per-available-room basis was up 1.2% year-on-year. It led to a 3.0% increase in total revenue, which was now up 0.4% year-to-date.

HotStats said: “Despite strong revenue results, goppar could have, in fact, been higher if not for some escalating expenses. Labour costs on a per-available-room basis were up 2.0% in the month, but down 0.4% as a percentage of total revenue, noting the strength of revenue in the month. Total overhead costs were up 2.6% year-on-year. The largest expense jump was in Admin. & General, up 10.7% year-on-year.”

Milan reported a strong performance, driven by the start of the new opera season. Revpar was up 10.1% in the month versus the same time last year, bolstered by a 6.2% rise in average room rate. Trevpar for the month was up 7.7%.

The growth in revenue led to a robust 26.1% year-on-year increase in goppar, which was further aided by a 1.5% year-on-year decrease in both total overhead costs and labour costs on a per-available-room basis.

Moscow did not have the same boost as Milan, but still saw profit gains amid negative revenue returns.

Revpar for Russia's capital was down 0.2% in the month versus the same time last year, the product of a 1.4% dip in average room rate. Occupancy was up 0.9 percentage points to 76.7%. The decrease in revpar, mixed with declines in F&B revpar and Conference & Banqueting, led to a 0.9% year-on-year decrease in trevpar.

Despite the revenue reduction, Moscow still recorded a 0.4% increase in goppar, due, in part, to cost control. Labour costs on a per-available-room basis were down 2.5% year-on-year (down 0.5% as a percentage of total revenue to 25.6%), while utility costs were down 1.1% year-on-year. Total overhead costs were still up 1.3% year-on-year.

Profit margin was up in the month 0.5 percentage points to 42.6%.

The results were also positive at STR, which reported that Europe's hotel occupancy rose 1.5% to 72.2% in November, with ADR increasing 1.9% to €106.71 and revpar rising 3.4% to €77.08.

Meanwhile, analysts at Lodging Econometrics reported that in the third quarter of 2019, Europe’s hotel construction pipeline climbed to record high counts with 1,710 projects and 264,080 rooms, an 18% increase in projects and a 16% increase in rooms year-on-year. 

This was the seventh year of pipeline expansion for the region. This expansion was, the group said, driven primarily by the “substantial growth” of the major global hotel companies who had acquired the brands of others or created new brands to bolster their existing portfolios throughout the last decade.