European Hotels Sees Revenue Fall 28 Percent

Hotel room revenues in a lot of European cities fell by almost 28 percent in the very first half of 2009. This information came from the results of a HotStats survey that was conducted by TRI Hospitality Consulting.

Out of all the cities listed on the survey, Prague and Vienna had the worst year-on-year declines in revenue per available room in the six months to June. In June, many hotels in Vienna reported a very sharp drop in revenue per available room by 48.3 percent. However, this is compared to last year’s stats, which received a boost from the Euro 2008 football tournament. In fact, rooms in Vienna were full just last June when Austria co-hosted the championships with Switzerland.

Other areas in Europe also saw declines. Berlin and Amsterdam saw declines in revenue per available room by more than 20 percent each when compared to last year’s numbers. It came as no shock to most that London, once again, saw the highest occupancy levels at 87.3 percent in June and 81.1 over the first six months of 2009.

TRI Hospitality Consulting did point out that the great occupancy levels in London have been maintained at the expense of average room rate, which fell by 7.1 percent year-on-year. The deputy managing director of TRI, David Bailey, said that the London market has experienced a decline of 7.1 percent in the average room rate. It is very likely that London will achieve a strong performance over the course of the summer. Bailey also pointed out that the swine flu has had a big impact on the London market as well.