Hotels trail downhill trend

Occupancy rates at Beirut hotels dip to 57 percent throughout 2011

The occupancy rate at Beirut hotels has dropped throughout the past 12 months, according to the year-end Middle East Hotel Benchmark survey released by Ernst & Young.

The occupancy rate at Beirut hotels attained an average of 57 percent throughout last year. In 2010, the average occupancy rate at hotels in the city was 68 percent.

Beirut hotels posted the fifth highest drop in occupancy rates after Cairo, Manama, Sharm El Shaikh, and Hurghada (Egypt).

The average room rate in Beirut stood at $220 throughout 2011, down by 13.6 percent from the previous year’s level. Beirut hotels posted the third highest drop in their average room rate after Sharm El Shaikh, and Hurghada. The room rate in Beirut was the seventh most expensive in the Middle East after Makkah, Kuwait, Doha, Riyadh, Manama, and Dubai.

The average yield per room at Beirut hotels stood at $126 in 2011, down by 27.6 percent from 2010. Beirut hotels came in the ninth position in terms of the room’s yield, after Makkah, Dubai, Doha, Jeddah, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Muscat, and Riyadh. Beirut hotels witnessed the fifth highest contraction in the rooms’ yields after Manama, Cairo, Sharm El Shaikh, and Hurghada.