Riyadh hotels outperform MidEast rivals

Hotels in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, saw significant increases in occupancy, average daily rates (ADR) and revenue per available room (revPAR) in September compared to the same month in 2010, latest industry data showed on Monday. The Saudi capital registered a 40 percent rise in occupancy rates in a traditionally quiet month for Middle East countries, increasing to 58.9 percent, STR Global data showed. Muscat, Oman was also a strong performer last month with a 13.9 percent increase to 48.8 percent. Cairo, Egypt, fell 30.9 percent in occupancy to 41.9 percent, as the country continues to struggle to recover from the impact of the uprisings earlier this year. Riyadh also reported the only double-digit ADR increase in the Middle East and Africa region, rising 12.6 percent to $267.06. The Saudi city also reported a 58.2 percent jump in revPAR to $157.27, STR Global said, adding that Dubai was the record best performer in this metric with a 20.4 percent increase to $135.10. Overall, STR Global said the Middle East/Africa region reported mixed results during September 2011. The region ended the month virtually flat with a 0.1 percent increase in occupancy to 58.4 percent, a 1.5 percent fall in ADR to $140.89, and a 1.3 percent decrease in revPAR to $82.34. “After consecutive monthly declines in occupancy since February, the metric finally reported a slight increase in the region, driven by improving conditions in the Middle East and Southern Africa”, said Elizabeth Randall, managing director of STR Global. “The slight increase in occupancy levels came through increased demand with a three percent growth for the month, which was the third month this year with demand growth. "July and January were the other two months this year with demand increases of 1.5 percent and 7.4 percent, respectively." Last week, STR Global said a total of 119 hotels are predicted to be built in the Middle East/Africa region this year. Year-to-date, 50 hotels have opened in the region supplying a further 9,663 rooms with another 69 hotels (15,420 rooms) in the pipeline for completion before the end of 2011. During 2012, 131 hotels are planned to open with 36,205 rooms, it added. In its latest Construction Pipeline Report, the industry experts said the region has 481 hotels totalling 130,479 rooms.