Shopping, good news for hotels

The hotels of Dubai have had a rough time since the golden days ended a couple of years ago. Occupancy has dropped with 31.4 percent.

Considering the pre-crisis levels were regularly reached unbelievable heights, the crisis only forced the numbers down only to more sober 60-70 percent – a rate that is considered normal in most countries.

Alex Kyriakidis, Global Managing Partner of Tourism Hospitality and Leisure at Deloitte said to ICM Commercial & Business News:

“This drop in hotel performance represents an adjustment rather than a crash. Over the past few years, hotels in Dubai experienced fast and strong growth due to a supply shortage combined with increased interest in tourism in the burgeoning city. Now that supply is balancing with demand, it is only natural that hotel performance is experiencing an adjustment.”

In fact, hoteliers in the Middle East are outperforming the rest of the world according to data from STR Global, with the highest occupancy, average room rates and revenue per available room in 2009.

And the Dubai Shopping Festival made the matters even better for the hotels in the city.

“We can feel the recovery and indeed we are very optimistic for 2010. I am glad to announce that our properties in Dubai – all 11 hotels – are running close to cent per cent occupancy rates during DSF 2010”, Naeem Darkazally, area director of Sales and Marketing at Rotana Dubai & Northen Emirates told VAW daily.

Kempinsky Hotel in Mall of the Emirates agrees. They report a 7-10 percent increase during the festival.

“The shopping room package has sold very well. We started February with a slight increase in occupancy, and we expect to close February with at least five percent higher occupancy than 2009”, Naser Fawzi, the hotels Sales and Marketing Manager said.