Hotel Occupancy Numbers
CHATA is concerned (May 2016)
Willemstad (June 29th, 2016) ‑ CHATA has been evaluating the hotel performance on island these last couple of months and recently during the CHATA membership meeting revealed the YTD Hotel industry performance of the Caribbean region and Curacao. CHATA is concerned and some experts might even say that this is “Code Red” for the hotel sector. Curaçao is seeing a rise in non traditional hotel stays and changes in travel behavior.
The month of May figures for Curaçao derived from the CHATA STR Report are a compilation of a total of 14 properties, representing a total of 2220 rooms. In total Curaçao has about +/- 3000 Hotel rooms. The amount does not include apartments and or villas.
An analysis for the month of May 2016 is outlined below.
The Hotel Occupancy in May 2016 was 54.1% compared to 65.1% in May 2015. Average Daily Rates dropped from $139.27 in 2015 to $131.02 in 2016. At $70.91 in 2016, the Revenue Per Available Room has decreased with $19.75 compared to 2015.
Overall we have seen a decrease every month for the first five (5) months of 2016 in Hotel Performance. We have seen a drop of about 2% each month leading up to the month of May 2016 where we recorded a drop of almost +/- 11%.
Meanwhile in other Caribbean islands Occupancy has decreased for most Caribbean Islands except for St. Lucia who recorded an increase compared to May 2015. As for the ADR, Trinidad & Tobago, St. Lucia, Cancun, Barbados and Turks & Caicos Islands saw an increase compared to May 2015. While RevPar was down for most islands, St. Lucia, Barbados, Turks & Caicos and the Dominican Republic did see an increase compared to May of last year.
According to CHATA and the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association, the following factors contributed to a decrease in Hotel performance for the Caribbean region and Curaçao. Factors include but not limited to A Mild US Winter, Uncertainty in global economy; US elections, ZIKA, Sharing Economy (The Rise of Apartments), Economic & Political situations in Brazil & Canada. Factors that contributed to an increase in Arrivals were the increase in travel from the European markets and Intra‑regional.
CHATA discussed the situation with key industry partners including CTB & CAP to discuss possible strategies to drive more business towards the hotels. In partnership with our industry partners several campaigns will be implemented in the different markets to stimulate demand.
CHATA expects a similar trend for the month of June 2016 and hope that the summer will pick up again with additional business for the hotel industry.
