How did Dubai hotels perform in the first quarter?
It’s an interesting situation. January was a bit of a shocker. We saw about a 33% reduction in REVpar and everyone began to get concerned. Then February got worse. It was more like a 40% reduction. So everyone started tightening their belts and wondering about what would happen in the future. But March seems to have saved the day. Hotels on Sheikh Zayed Road – which are three to four-star properties – had nearly 80% occupancy for the month, and the beach hotels averaged about 85%. So occupancies for the month were only about 5%-10% lower compared to the same period last year, which is the good news. The bad news is that the high occupancies typically were bought at the expense of room rates. Hotels obviously have been proactive and have made some attractive offers to lure guests. In particular I would suggest that the beach hotels have been offering very attractive packages to lure groups, judging by the high occupancy rates these hotels have achieved.
