RevPAR for Western Europe overall showed a downward trend in April

For the first time this year, RevPAR for Western Europe overall showed a downward trend in April, as per the performance results shared by The Bench, European Performance Monitor, April 2006.

The Bench, which provides market results for occupancy, average room rate and revenue per available room, shared the findings on the basis of a sample of 1320 hotels and some 224’000 rooms. The company shared that RevPAR has declined by 3.1 percent relative to the same period last year. Both rates (-1.9 percent) and occupancy (-1.3 percent) were in decline.

The key cities on which the company reports (Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dublin, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Helsinki, London, Oslo, Paris, Stockholm and Vienna) achieved almost exactly the same RevPAR this year (EUR 96.32) as last year (EUR 96.31). Whilst average rate had declined by 0.5 percent, occupancy was up by 0.5 percent.

It also stated that Amsterdam, Vienna and Paris performed particularly well with RevPAR improvements of 19.2 percent, 17.1 percent and 12.8 percent respectively. On the other end of the distribution curve were Frankfurt (-16.8 percent), Brussels (-17.6 percent) and Copenhagen (-20.4 percent).

James Chappell, managing director, The Bench said, “Europe is affected very strongly by the Easter week and as Easter fell in March in 2005, the April results are exacerbated by not comparing like with like. What it does show very clearly is that destinations with a strong leisure trade were able to shrug off the poor results achieved by many destinations in Europe. Amsterdam, Edinburgh, London and Paris all had positive RevPAR growth whereas Brussels, Frankfurt, Cologne and Copenhagen fell dramatically. As a whole, Western Europe fell 3.1 percent in April, but is still showing year to date RevPAR growth of almost 7 percent year to date.”

Overall RevPAR was up in April by 1.8 percent in the UK. Whilst average rate had declined by 2.1 percent, occupancy increased by 3.9 percent to 78.9 percent. Year to date, RevPAR is now up by 7.4 percent to reach £61.20. UK Regional (all mainland UK except London), has under-performed London once more with a RevPAR increase of 1.1 percent compared to 2.1 percent in London.

Overall, April has been a difficult month for the Scandinavian hotel industry with an overall decline in RevPAR of 12.2 percent. Occupancy was down by 9.9 percent whereas average rate dropped by 2.5 percent. Year to date RevPAR growth is still positive (6.6 percent). Amongst the capitals, Copenhagen was hit strongest with a RevPAR decline of 20.4 percent. In Helsinki, RevPAR fell by 2.6 percent, in Oslo 11.0 percent and in Stockholm 8.6 percent.

April was another difficult month for the German hotel industry. Year on year RevPAR was down 23.3 percent, deriving from declines both in average rate (-8.5 percent) and occupancy (-16.2 percent). Year to date, RevPAR is now 3.5 percent lower than last year.