Each week, Hotel News Now features a news roundup from a different global region. Today’s compilation focuses on Middle East/Africa.
How MEA hotels fared in 2016
Hotels in both the Middle East and Africa suffered year-over-year occupancy declines for full-year 2016, but African hoteliers did a comparatively better job increasing rate and driving revenue, according to the latest data from Hotel New Now’s parent company STR.
Middle East hotels saw occupancy drop 2.2% to 66.2% in 2016, with average daily rate dropping 7.2% to $174.60 and revenue per available room falling 9.2% to $115.59.
African hotels saw an even steeper occupancy decline, contracting 3.6% to 55.4%, but a 10.7% increase in ADR to $108.14 pushed up RevPAR for the year 6.7% to $59.87.
More year-end, global figures are available in the STR global hotel review.
Carlson keying in on Middle East
Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group has announced plans to open 17 hotels in the Middle East through the course of 2017, according to a report from Arabian Business, with a particular focus on growth in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The company has plans to add 3,000 rooms to the region, in which it already has 8,500.
December MEA pipeline data
More than 200,000 rooms were under contract in the Middle East and Africa in December, according to data from STR. The latest pipeline report has 158,441 rooms under contract in the Middle East in 555 projects and 57,626 rooms in Africa in 309 projects.
That represents a 7.2% year-over-year increase in rooms for the Middle East and 5.1% decrease in rooms for Africa.
The number of rooms in construction were 84,519 in the Middle East with 264 hotels in that category. Africa has 29,546 rooms in construction and 160 hotels.
Among the key markets in the regions, Makkah, Saudi Arabia and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, are seeing the most in construction, with 23,060 rooms and 20,451 rooms, respectively.
How currency is impacting the Middle East
A group of experts recently shared their views with Hotel News Now on how shifts in currency are impacting hotels in both the Middle East and Europe, writes HNN’s Terence Baker.
Philip Wooller, area director of Middle East and Africa for STR told Baker that currency fluctuation is often impactful for the region.
“The foreign exchange has always been a big factor for Middle East and Africa,” he said. “Given the commodity-driven nature of their economies, any fluctuation can impact their balance of trade and by extension their balance of payments. In similar fashion, for the hoteliers, apart from the cost of doing business it affects the equilibrium of domestic versus international business.”
Deals and development
- Kingdom Holding company sold the 260-room Mövenpick Hotel Ambassador Accra in Ghana to QG Africa Hotel LP for $100 million.
- The 201-room Sheraton Annaba opened in Algeria, marking Marriott International’s seventh hotel in the country.
- Hilton Worldwide Holdings announced the signing of the 118-room Hilton Garden Inn Casablanca Sidi Maarouf in Casablanca, Morocco. Construction will start on the hotel in late 2017.
- Wyndham Hotel Group announced the first Wyndham Garden property in the United Arab Emirates with the signing of the $54 million, 179-room Wyndham Garden Ajman Corniche, set to open by the end of 2017.
- AccorHotels signed a management agreement for the 420-room Sofitel Doha West Bay in Doha, Qatar, which will open in 2019.
- In the same city, the Curio Collection by Hilton now has its first Middle Eastern property with the opening of the 201-room AlRayyan Hotel Doha.
- Anantara Hotels Resorts & Spas announced plans for the Anantara Zanzibar Resort, which will open in 2020 on the Tanzanian archipelago.
- Oberoi Group announced plans for a 25-acre resort property in Marrakech, Morocco, which will open in 2017 serving as the company’s first property in the country.
- Carlson announced the 296-room Pearl of Africa Hotel Kampala in Uganda will join the company’s Quorvus Collection upon its opening in March.
- Marriott announced opening of the first Renaissance branded property in Nigeria with the 155-room Renaissance Lagos Ikeja Hotel.
Compiled by Sean McCracken.