Beirut hotels record occupancy hike, rate rises for 2009

Ernst & Young’s benchmark survey of the Middle East hotel sector indicated that occupancy rate at hotels in Beirut was some 71 percent in the first 9 months of 2009, up 48 percent from 48 percent in the same period last year.Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group also reported the occupancy rate in Beirut was the 7th highest among 21 markets in the region, compared to being the lowest in the same period last year.

Beirut posted the highest growth in occupancy rates in the region; this was largely due to the fact that occupancy rates in Beirut hotels were very low in the first 9 months of 2008.

The survey said the average rate per room at Beirut hotels was $226 in the first 9 months of 2009, ranking the capital’s hotels as the 7th most expensive in the region, ahead of Dubai-Overall, Dubai-City, Al Ain and Dubai-Apartments in the United Arab Emirates, Amman in Jordan, all markets in Saudi Arabia, and all markets in Egypt.

The average rate-per-room at Beirut hotels increased by 32.1 percent to $226 year-on-year and posted the highest increase among all markets in the region.

The average rate per room in Beirut came above the regional average of $191, which declined by 3.8 percent from $198 in the same period of 2008. However, the average room rate in Beirut decreased by 33 percent in September 2009 from August and increased by 32.1 percent from September 2008.

Occupancy rates at Beirut hotels were 57 percent in June, 87 percent in July 2009, 75 percent in August, 71 percent in September 2009, compared to 57 percent in June, 74 percent in July, 90 percent in August, and 48 percent in September 2008. Beirut hotels had an occupancy rate of 57 percent for all of 2008.

Revenues-per-available-room (RevPAR) were $162 in Beirut in the first 9 months of 2009, up from $84 in the same period last year, ranking it in 5th place in the region, after Dubai-Beach, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Manama.

Beirut’s RevPAR was up 93.6 percent year-on-year, posting the highest rise in the region, and compared to an average decline of 10 percent across the region.

- Daily Star