Four and five star hotels in Riyadh witnessed an increase in performance levels for the month of February compared to the same period last year; 

A simultaneous increase in occupancy of 6.3 percentage points to 76.9% and average room rate (ARR) of 2.1% to US$252.54, resulted in a double-digit growth in revenue per available room (RevPAR) of 11.2%.

However the increase in total revenue per available room (TRevPAR) was partially weighed down by marginal F&B revenues. Nonetheless, a growth in overall revenue helped gross operating profit per available room (GOPPAR) increase by 13.2% to US$163.62.

Conversely, hotels in Jeddah witnessed demand slowing down as occupancy declined by 1.7 percentage points to 77.6% and ARR dropped by a marginal 0.3% to US$251.44. As a consequence, RevPAR depreciated by 2.5% for the period, a trend which was also reflective of year-to-date results.

A similar decline witnessed in other revenue streams such as conferencing and F&B further dampened TRevPAR by 3.0% to US$309.07, forcing GOPPAR to contract by 12.3% to US$127.77.

Mixed results for Manama and Sharm El Sheikh hotels in February

The Manama hotel market experienced downward pressures on RevPAR in February, as occupancy fell 7.3 percentage points to 54.2% and ARR remained stagnant at US$185.56.

The 11.6% decline in RevPAR impacted TRevPAR which contracted by 3.6%, although to a lesser degree due to increased F&B demand. As a result of lower top-line revenues, the profitability of Manama hotels fell with GOPPAR contracting by 4.9% to US$57.50.

After a strong period of growth achieved in the previous months, hotels in Sharm El Sheikh also reported a drop in RevPAR of 4.0% to US$19.02 in February. Although ARR increased by 13.1% to US$37.49, it was not sufficient enough to offset a 9.0 percentage point decline in occupancies to 50.7% and subsequent reductions of F&B revenue.

The softer overall revenue levels impacted TRevPAR which contracted by 8.7%, resulting in GOPPAR levels falling to US$3.65.

Average room rates surge in Abu Dhabi

Hoteliers in Abu Dhabi were able to capitalise on higher demand levels in February, as ARR increased by 27.1% to US$206.32, while occupancy levels grew 3.4 percentage points to 84.0%. The significant increase in ARR helped RevPAR grow 32.5% and translated it to a double-digit increase in TRevPAR to US$326.36.

The significant increase in ARR in addition to stronger F&B revenues drove a significant growth in bottom-line performance as GOPPAR grew by 43.9% to US$132.91.