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2 August 2018 – Hosteltur
The Spanish hotel industry has increased its interest in investment due to the strong growth in yields in several markets, and despite the fact that the political scenario in Cataluña has slowed down the performance of the country as a whole. That is according to analysts from STR and Magma HC, who explain that the investment boost has been largely driven by the strength of international demand, even during the financial crisis.
“The increase in holiday tourism, as well as in ‘bleisure’ (business with leisure tourism) has opened the market to numerous development opportunities, with several operators currently working on improving their products and services to satisfy the growing demand”, says Albert Grau, founding partner at Magma HC. Thus, in his words, the Spanish hotel sector “is continuing to boom, despite the challenges ahead”.
In this sense, it is worth remembering that, between March 2015 and March 2018, Spain registered 37 consecutive months of RevPAR (revenue per available room) growth. In recent months, by contrast, there have been marginal decreases, above all due to the slow down in Barcelona, which is home to the largest number of rooms in the country. Even so, according to data from STR, in most of the key domestic markets, including in Madrid, hotel yields are continuing their strong upwards trend.
“Vacation markets, primarily Gran Canaria, have experienced YoY decreases because tourist demand has returned to rival destinations such as Turkey and Egypt”, says Javier Serrano, manager at STR for Spain.
Barcelona
STR’s study shows that, in general, hotels in the Catalan capital have managed to keep their tariffs more or less stable, although there have been more notable decreases in recent times. Following the independence referendum last October, the occupancy rate of establishments in Barcelona fell considerably. During the first half of 2018, they fell by 5.2% with respect to the same period a year earlier, whilst the ADR (average daily rate) fell by 1.4% compared to 2017.
“Although it is still too early to make any kind of prediction about what will happen in the market in the end, it is likely that Barcelona will recover quickly once the situation stabilises”, says Serrano. “Hotels in Barcelona”, he adds “saw constant monthly RevPAR growth rates in the double digits in 2016 and 2017, when the market was still benefitting from strong international demand and demand diverted from destinations such as Turkey and the north of Africa. The recent instability in Barcelona slowed down those previous growth rates, with decreases in occupancy rates driven by the decrease in domestic and international demand, mainly from the USA. Nevertheless, if the market manages to keep tariffs stable, we should see growth to the extent that consumer confidence returns to Barcelona”.
Madrid
Madrid, with the highest RevPAR growth rate in all of Spain in 2017, has benefitted over the last three years from demand due to leisure and corporate business. As well as being one of the main weekend destinations for Europeans, it has also seen an increase in interest from several Asian countries and the USA, especially when it comes to group reservations (…).
The Director-General of STR, Robin Rossman, believes that “there is enormous potential for Madrid’s hotels to continue pushing up rates”. In his opinion, “to the extent that demand continues to grow and the hotel supply market continues to evolve with the arrival of more high-end properties, we can expect to see increases in the ADR”.
Overall, the analysts at STR expect that corporate demand in Madrid will continue to increase thanks to the celebration of international events and the relocation of the headquarters of several companies from Barcelona to the Spanish capital. As such, they forecast ADR growth of close to 3% in Madrid by the end of 2018.
Original story: Hosteltur
Translation: Carmel Drake