Source : MKG Consulting Database
– November 2002 MONTHLY REsults FOR CORPORATE OPERATED HOTEL CHAINS PEr
segment: OCTOBER, EUROPEAN UNION
Source : MKG Consulting Database – November 2002 Among the most
significant facts from October 2002, the following merit particular
attention: 1-
RevPAR increases from +11.1% to +16.7% in Southern Europe in October Overall, October 2002 was not disappointing, however, for a variety of
reasons, the Benelux and above all Germany, were unable to “get back on
their feet” like the rest of Europe. Europe posts a RevPAR up by nearly
8%, which is better than the growth recorded in September (+5.6%). The
global occupancy rate, up by 2.1 points, reaches 73.6%, for nearly 4
points less than in October 2000. The countries in the Southern Europe,
with exception to Portugal, post the most significant increases: Italy
sees its RevPAR grow by 14.6%, Spain by 11.1% and France by 16.7%. The
United Kingdom and Austria also come out well and post a RevPAR up by
10.3% and +11.2% respectively. It must be said that in October 2001,
Austria lost 21.6%. In the end, Germany and Portugal are the only two
countries without growth in their RevPAR. For Germany, the score for the
month of October (-7.5% for the RevPAR) is not very comforting. The German
hotel industry is going through a truly difficult period. The economic
situation is greatly responsible for this state of affairs. Further West,
Belgium and The Netherlands post slight growth in their RevPAR because of
slight drops in average daily rates. 2- Such as in September,
France is doing better than its Europeans neighbours After posting a 13.5% increase in September, the RevPAR rose by 16.7% in
October. The monthly increase is pulled along by the average daily rates
that gained 11.3% while occupancy rate wins 3.4 points. In terms of
occupancy, these enchanting results are just below those registered in
October 2000, at which time the average occupancy rate of properties
reached 75.7% versus 74.2% in October 2002. The results of the monthly
activity are thus clearly up with respect to 2001 and in Paris in
particular, where the RevPAR rose by 33.7%. It must be said that in
October there were many salons and congresses in the capital, meaning a
high level of business clientele. The RevPAR for 4* hotels rises by more
than 40%. This is the only segment that is still far from the performance
posted in October 2000. The occupancy rate was 83.3% in October 2000 and
reached 72.3% this year, down by 11 points. 3- Portugal and France
regain their equilibrium over the last 12 months Even if on 12 sliding months, the RevPAR is still down (-3.9%), the trend
is improving with respect to last month. The average daily rate is stable
(-0.2%) and the occupancy rate is down by 2.5 points, to 67.1%. The budget
segments come out well with a RevPAR up on the last 12 months, while the
mid-range segment increases its rates only slightly and posts an occupancy
rate down by a further 3 points. Finally, the upmarket not only sees its
occupancy rate drops by 3.8 points, but its average daily rate also drops
by 1.7%. In the mid term, the policy in terms of average daily rates
perfectly fits a geographic logic: countries in the North and East of
Europe lowered their rates while the South, including France, maintains
the growth of their average daily rates. In fact, Germany, Austria,
Belgium, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom post drops in average
daily rates. The other European countries see this index progress. Belgium
and the United Kingdom thus find themselves among the “bad students in
the class”, posting a RevPAR down by 6.2%. As in 2001, across the whole of the year, countries in Southern Europe
are the ones with the best performances: in Italy the RevPAR loses only
2.7%, in France the drop reaches 0.2% and Portugal posts a balanced ratio.
Spain is experiencing a little more difficulty. Countries in the north and
east of Europe, meanwhile, post drops in the RevPAR by more than 5% and
they are very close from one country to the next. In most European
countries including the Netherlands, this trend should not reverse itself
by the end of the year. Overall, the European hotel industry continues to do better each month,
showing monthly results that are close to those before September 11th
(particularly in France). Even though it is too early to speak of a return
to the former trends, these monthly results allow the hotel industry to
take back a part of its loss of earnings recorded since September 2001. For further information, Official
tourist arrivals to Bali for the month of October were 44.62 percent down
on the month before. Arrivals
dropped from 157,000 in September, to 87,000 in October. Total
arrivals for Indonesia’s 13 main gateways were down 19.5 percent on
Setember, according to the National Statistics Board. Reports
suggest November’s figures will be equally bleak, but that December’s
loads are showing a marked improvement. Source: TravelWeeklyEast.com Tasmania: Summer of prosperity
for tourism Tasmanian
tourist operators could be in for their best-ever summer with record
bookings from interstate and overseas. The
good and bad of travelling Manchester
Online - DELAYS are the most annoying part of business travel,
followed by getting behind in office work, airline seating and jetlag,
according to a new report. ATF
2004 venue confirmed as Vientiane TravelWeeklyEast.com
- Capital city of
Laos PDR, Vientiane, has been confirmed as host venue for the ASEAN
Tourism Forum 2004, a change from the earlier stated venue of Pakse. In
August, Laos PDR, a first-time ATF host, appointed Navitas Management, the
events management subsidiary of National Association of Travel Agents
Singapore (NATAS), as event manager. At that time, the southern town of
Pakse was named as host. CEO
of Navitas Management, Robert Khoo, said the change came after careful
consideration of both venues. “We
presented to them the pros and cons of each city, and Pakse had a lot more
cons than pros. We were advising that some of the areas vital for the show
were the accessibility, airlinks and communications. “Vientiane
is no problem. It doesn’t have a convention centre, but that is being
built at the moment. It’s a matter of rescheduling the completion of the
building,” said Khoo. Moving
the show to the capital made Laos’ hosting task a much more comfortable
one, he said. Mongolia
to open Far East gateway TravelWeeklyEast.com
- Keen to tap a
growing leisure market demand from Southeast Asia, Mongolia's national
carrier will fly to Hong Kong twice a week from midway through next year. "We
plan to open direct flights to Hong Kong in the middle of July – because
it's a gateway for east and Southeast Asia,” said promotion manager
Margad B. The
carrier would use an Airbus A310 for the Hong Kong route, he said. Mongolian
has had seasonal charters to Singapore since 1998. "Last summer we
had two flights there which were full. It was great," said Margad.
Business could be generated from both ends, he said. \Mongolian
entered Japan in April with its first flights to Tokyo, and will soon
consolidate. "We plan daily flights to Japan next summer because of
the increased traffic demand. There's a great tourist potential." Most Japanese took a one-week package to Mongolia, he said. Chicago Hotels try to lure
suburbanites Chicago Business - With a
tourism slump in its second year and the holidays at hand, Chicago hotels
are increasingly looking in their own backyard to fill empty beds. Through
direct-mail, print and radio advertising, downtown hotels are courting the
local leisure market with lures like discounted room rates and free
amenities. The local niche, once virtually ignored as marginal or
inconsequential by many local hoteliers, is gaining more attention as
other, more profitable lines of business—such as conventioneers and
other business travelers—defy hotel marketing efforts to spur a rebound. The competition for locals is particularly intense
between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, when business and convention travel
slows to a crawl and locals can represent 30% of a hotel’s bookings. “We have changed gears a bit to get more local
leisure and offset the drop in business travel,” says Christopher
Johnson, general manager of the Loop’s Hotel Burnham, where locals have
represented more than 40% of weekend business this year and about 15% of
total room nights—considerably more than in the hotel’s first two
years of operation. “In this economy, the downtown hotels are going
after the tourist market in general much more aggressively, and the local
tourist in particular,” says Marc Gordon, president of the Illinois
Hotel-Motel Assn. With increases in tourism offsetting losses on the
business travel side, the 67% occupancy rate the downtown hotels
experienced for the first 10 months of the year was virtually unchanged
from 2001—although it remains down dramatically from the 80%-range rates
of the four previous years. But the discounting required to boost local check-ins
is taking its toll on hotels’ average room rates—$151 through October,
vs. $163 for the same period last year. That doesn’t mean hotels are losing money on local
guests, though. “The business guest is usually just looking for
efficient, quick service, but the leisure guest wants to experience
everything the hotel has to offer,” says Daniel Tannenbaum, director of
sales and marketing at the Hotel Sofitel Chicago/Water Tower. With their
greater proclivity for spending on hotel restaurants, spa treatments, room
service and other amenities, local leisure travelers can be very
lucrative. But inducements are necessary to grab suburbanites
looking for a weekend getaway. For instance, Hotel Sofitel, which opened
earlier this year, is advertising a holiday weekend package in local
papers with a $259-a-night rate for a suite, compared with the $429 a
suite commands in peak periods. The Comfort Inn in River North, which opened in April,
advertises a $99 rate for holiday shoppers—$50 less than the regular
rate—that includes free parking. In addition to touting the discount in
local papers, general manager Lisa O’Leary says the hotel extended the
offer in a direct-mail campaign to 15,000 River North condo dwellers,
inviting them to house their holiday guests at the Comfort Inn. But some hoteliers, arguing that mere discounts
aren’t enough to draw suburbanites downtown, are offering other
inducements. Tokyo
adds a clutch of luxury hotels At a $400-a-night Japanese mega hotel, two South Korean government officials one morning were trying to reconfirm a breakfast reservation in English. Finally, they gave up. Turning to a group of American reporters, one asked: "Does anyone speak Japanese?" This
glimpse of the ingrown aspect of Tokyo hotels may become an image of the
past as international hotel groups invade the city, opening new luxury
hotels at the rate of one a year through 2005. Tokyo is undergoing a hotel construction boom, providing alternatives to the three major luxury properties long familiar to business travelers: the New Otani, the Imperial and the Okura. The
number of new hotel rooms will jump from 233 last year to 1,355 this year
to 1,589 planned for next year. The boom comes as Tokyo, hit by a 9
percent drop in domestic tourism last year, is opening an ambitious,
$17-million-a-year promotional campaign aimed at doubling the number of
overseas visitors over the next four years, to 6 million. Currently, 2.8
million foreigners visit Tokyo, about a quarter of the average number of
international visitors to Hong Kong. Future
foreign visitors will find new hotels with such familiar names as Four
Seasons, Grand Hyatt and Mandarin Oriental. The Japanese say they want classic Japanese style, said Lloyd Nakano, managing director of the 77-room Hotel Seiyo Ginza. "But when they go for coffee, restaurant, hotel rooms, they go for Park Hyatt, Westin, Four Seasons." Last
year his hotel started the trend, emerging sparkling from a total
makeover, under the new management of Rosewood Hotels. Situated at one end
of the Ginza, Japan's premiere shopping street, the hotel is promoting
itself to suburbanites seeking a luxury weekend in town. The Ginza offers
a reminder that Japan's economic growth machine has stalled - at the
enviable level of Zurich. Foreign stores on the avenue include Bulgari,
Burberry, Cartier, Harry Winston, Hermes, Louis Vuitton and Tiffany. In
October, Four Seasons opened a 57-room hotel on the top floors of a
high-rise adjacent to Tokyo Station in Marunouchi. With triple-pane
windows for quiet and a location one hour by express train from Narita
International Airport, the hotel is fast becoming a favorite of business
travelers. Next
spring the Grand Hyatt Tokyo is scheduled to open two miles (three
kilometers) from downtown on the edge of the Roppongi entertainment
district. With 390 rooms and 10 restaurants and bars, the hotel aims to
focus on dining and entertainment, said Xavier Destribats, the general
manager. Next
autumn the Shiba Park chain is scheduled to open the Park Hotel Tokyo with
274 rooms, occupying 10 floors of a new high-rise, a popular strategy
here. It will be in the new Shiodome media and advertising complex that is
rising a five-minute taxi ride from the Ginza. Following the same strategy of occupying floors in
a commercial building, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel group plans to open a
182-room hotel in 2005 in Tokyo's downtown Honbashi district. Also by
2005, Carlson Hotels Worldwide is planning to open a downtown hotel, the
Regent. Further down the road, Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Ltd., owner
of the fabled Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong, is negotiating with a Japanese
real-estate company to open a luxury hotel in 2006 in a building near the
Imperial Hotel. The management of the Imperial, by far the largest
downtown hotel, with 1,057 rooms, says the new competition will help
generate traffic and buzz about downtown Tokyo's shopping and business
attractions. "Tokyo
constitutes a monster-sized market, where the 15 current major hotel
properties, even after the 'bubble' days, have for the past five years
enjoyed a rather high average rate of occupancy rate of 75 percent,"
said the Imperial's general manager, Tetsuya Kobayashi. "Even if some
of our patrons do sample the newcomers, they will definitely return to us
for our balance of facilities, service, room rates, location, prestige and
cuisine." Elsewhere
in Japan, foreign chains are signing management contracts with hotels. In
Kyoto, the 516-room Miyako hotel was reborn in April under a new contract
as the Westin Miyako Hotel. At Tokyo's international airport, the Rihga
Royal Hotel Narita was rebaptized this spring as the Hilton Narita. For
visitors who want to escape chains and taste Japanese culture, Yoshimi
Nakagawa, the owner of a Kyoto ryokan, or country inn, is opening a
12-room urban ryokan in Tokyo, complete with shoji screens, tatami mat
floors, and foldable futon mattresses for sleeping. Just one block off the
Ginza, this small jewel of a hotel, to be called Ginza Yoshimizu Ryokan,
is scheduled to open late next month, with single occupancy rooms ranging
from $75 to $175. "The
restaurant will only serve organic foods, vegetables and fresh
fruit," said Nakagawa, who once lived in Woodstock, New York. In a
decidedly unstodgy touch, the 9th floor of the hotel will offer two
Japanese traditional "ofuro," individual baths of wood and stone
with private views of the city. Six Continents demerger: Don't bother
to raise a glass or book in The
Independent -
Behind every demerger is a key to unlock the hidden value of a
conglomerate, or so the theory goes. Which is why the last thing Six
Continents needed was a slowdown in sales at pubs on Britain's high
streets. The
hotels and pubs giant is bent on spinning off its retail arm next April,
in the hope that once free from the chains of its struggling hotels, the
pubs and restaurants side will flourish. But
full-year figures out yesterday from the group only confirmed an emerging
trend: Britain is drinking less beer, less wine, less spirits. Just why,
no one knows. Have you cut back in some kind of Puritanical preparation
for the festive binge? Have you begun your new year's resolution early?
Are you worried about your finances, or just put off going out by the
weather? Something has triggered the carnage in the sector. Like-for-like
sales at Six Continents' pubs and restaurants such as All Bar One and
Brown's slumped 4.5 per cent in October and November. Tim
Clarke, the group's chief executive and designated boss of the pubs group,
may be glad that 60 per cent of the group's pubs are "community
orientated" (not on high streets or in Greater London) but that
leaves 40 per cent that are. The inevitable promotions to lure back
drinkers will hit margins, however much Mr Clarke promises to attack
costs. Which
leaves the hotels – and the picture is not pretty. Operating profits
fell by 39 per cent last year, dragging group pre-tax profits before
exceptionals to end-September down 24 per cent to £558m. Worse still, Six
Continents said it was more cautious about 2003 even than it had been in
September, warning that corporate room rates (which make up two-thirds of
its hotels business) are expected to be flat to slightly negative next
year. Any recent uptick against the post-11 September numbers vanishes
when figures are compared with those from 2000. Revenue per available room
(the key industry benchmark) at its InterContinental hotels in the US is
down by a staggering 27 per cent on two years ago. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
