Own

Middle East hotels see disparate revenue, occupancy numbers

Dubai's different hotel markets seem to be doing well across several metrics. The city properties saw the highest occupancy in the Middle East in February at 89.1 percent while beach hotels had the highest average room rate at $399. 

According to EY's February MENA Hotel Benchmark Survey, Dubai’s hospitality market saw an increase in average occupancy by 4 percent when compared to the same time last year. 

"In the GCC, half of the markets saw an increase in revenue per average room—these were the UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar—while the other half, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Bahrain, saw a slowdown in performance," Yousef Wahbah, MENA head of transaction real estate at EY said.

Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi hotels, meanwhile, saw the highest increase in RevPAR across the region compared to February 2016.

Abu Dhabi’s hospitality market saw an increase across all key performance indicators in February. RevPAR increased by 21.7 percent mainly due to the increase in average daily rates (ADR) from $139 in February 2016 to $163 this February along with an increase in average occupancy of 3.1 percent.

Kuwait & Doha

Kuwait’s hospitality market saw an 8-percent increase in occupancy rates, growing to 54.6 percent. This drove a 2.8 percent growth in RevPAR to $122, which EY credits to the popularity of the Hala February festivals.

Doha, meanwhile, maintained its RevPAR performance at $138 while ADR fell to $189 in February despite a 6.4 percent rise in occupancy.

KSA & Muscat

In Saudi Arabia, Riyadh and Jeddah’s hospitality markets saw a drop in RevPAR by 26 percent and 24.4 percent respectively when compared to the same period last year.

EY said the drop in Riyadh and Jeddah’s hotel performance could be attributed to the decreased number of conferences and exhibitions due to corporate spending cuts in both the public and private sectors in the Kingdom.

Muscat’s hospitality market saw a decrease in RevPAR from $167 in February 2016 to $147, mainly due to the drop in ADR by 19.7 percent. Occupancy increased by 7.8 percent to 87 percent.