Chinese Hotels Report Surge in Revenue Per Available Room

STR gave China hotel data for the week ended March 25th. Hotel RevPAR in China was up 159.2% year over year, up against an easy decline of -51% comparison. When compared with the same week in 2019, hotel RevPAR was down -6.2%.

STR released their global bubble chart update through March 18th. It showed growing momentum in the Asia Pacific region and more than half of the markets globally with better than 20% growth in RevPAR versus 2019. In countries with room supply over 50,000 rooms, Israel, Switzerland, Singapore, the Dominican Republic and New Zealand led in RevPAR on an actual basis. Singapore was also one of the leaders in occupancy along with Thailand and New Zealand from Asia Pacific. In growth terms, Saudi Arabia continues its momentum with a RevPAR increase of 71% from 2019. Vietnam was on the bottom with RevPAR -25% below the pre-pandemic comparable. Egypt Provincial and Egypt Red Sea Resort reported ADR up more than 150% due to recent exchange rate fluctuations.

Macau’s average hotel occupancy rate reached 76.1% in February, up by 5% compared to January. 2-star and 3-star hotels were both over 80% while 4-star and 5-star hotels reached 74% and 74.8% respectively. The average length of stay, however, was down to 1.6 nights average, falling to 1.4 nights for 4-star hotels. Some 883,000 guests stayed in hotel establishments during the month with 643,000 of them from mainland China. Hong Kong guests totaled 162,000. Package tour visitors to the SAR during February totaled 17,000, up from 4,800 in January.

Sands China President Wilfred Wong told attendees at a British Chamber of Commerce event in Macau that Macau needs to increase hotel room supply in order to fully leverage its MICE capabilities and work towards a non-gaming mix similar to that in Las Vegas. Wong called hotel room inventory their biggest challenge in shifting to the non-gaming centric model. Sands China has the largest supply of hotel rooms in the city.

Marriott International’s JW Marriott brand announced the opening of JW Marriott Jeju Resort & Spa in Seogwipo, Jeju in South Korea. The resort offers 197 guest rooms, including 28 suites, all appointed in natural wood and warm tones. The standard Deluxe rooms are 45 square meters while the Suites are 92 square meters. The resort has five distinct culinary experiences to start out the amenities. There is also the Spa by JW with sauna facilities as well as four indoor and outdoor swimming pools fed by the island’s volcanic springs. Event spaces include the 600 guest Grand Ballroom with 561 square meters of space along with other function rooms.

Oesis, the new-age hospitality consulting firm, said they facilitated the signing of multiple hotels and resorts assets for The Fern Hotels & Resorts across India. Key professional services provided to Fern were business development, strategic consulting, feasibility studies, valuation reports and hotel asset acquisition. The facilitated hotels range from 60 keys to 110 keys totaling over 1,200+ key in hotels over 15 cities.

Suba Group of Hotels announced the launch of Comfort Inn Silver Arch in Mussoorie in North India. The hotel is located near the entry of the Picture Palace side of Mall Road. The full service hotel features 27 Rooms and four Bamboo Cottages and can accommodate around 80-100 guests. The facilities at the hotel include The Café situated on the ground floors, 24 hour room service, a travel desk, car parking and laundry services. The hotel includes banqueting.

Personnel Moves

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts announced the promotion of Nikhil Sharma as market managing director for Eurasia. Sharma joined Wyndham as regional director for Eurasia in 2019 and will have a full management remit encompassing franchise operations support, regional sales, revenue management services, while also steering the development strategy for the region.

Saj Hotels Pvt Ltd has appointed Zamir Khan as their new CEO. Khan brings over two decades of experience across such sectors as hospitality, FMCG, real estate, aviation, telecommunications and more. Saj Hotels currently owns to boutique resorts, located in Mahabaleshwar and Malshej Ghat in India, respectively. The group also operates restaurants.

Minor Hotels announced Craig Cochrane has been appointed as the new chief people officer. He joins the Bangkok-based hotel group from Accor Hotels, where he was SVP of talent & culture – Turkey, India, Middle East & Africa.

Middle East Highlight

IHG Hotels & Resorts announced the signing of a management agreement with Jurmaz Hotels Company to bring a new voco hotel to the center of Riyadh. The voco Hotel and Suites, Riyadh North is set to open its doors in 2026. The 246 key, 29 floor hotel will be situated in a prime location at the center of Riyadh, approximately 1.5 kilometers from King Abdullah Financial District, a 30 minute drive from King Khalid International Airport.