Rough 2019 Gives Way to Profit Burst for Mainland Europe Hotels

Profit per available room grew year-on-year in Mainland Europe in September and for the second time in 2019, according to data from HotStats. After three consecutive months of YOY declines, GOPPAR registered a 3.9% increase compared to the same month last year.

With a boost of 2.4% YOY, average rate marked its highest growth since December 2018. Occupancy was also on the rise, recording a 0.7-percentage-point YOY increase. As a result, rooms revenue achieved a 3.4% YOY lift on a per-available-room basis.

Other revenue centres were not able to replicate the success of the Rooms department. F&B revenue per available room recorded its fourth consecutive month of YOY decline in September 2019 with a drop of 0.6%. This was also the case for Conference and Banqueting revenue per available room, which was down 2.2% compared to the same month last year. Despite these setbacks, TRevPAR increased by 2.5% YOY led by rooms revenue growth.

Labour costs continued to expand, reaching a 0.8% YOY increase in September. Overheads grew by 2.08% YOY and are YTD 2019 2.6% ahead of the same period last year. Profit conversion in Mainland Europe was recorded at 44.5% of total revenue.

Profit & Loss Key Performance Indicators – Mainland Europe (in EUR)

Hotels in Barcelona recorded double-digit YOY growth in profit per available room for the second consecutive month in September. GOPPAR in the city grew by 31.4% compared to the same month last year, marking a very strong finish for the third quarter.

September was a record-breaking month for Barcelona: While average rate (up 16.8% YOY) recorded its highest year-over-year increase in the last 24 months, RevPAR (up 22.3% YOY) registered its greatest YOY expansion since December 2018. Occupancy achieved a 3.8-percentage-point YOY lift.

Top-line performance was also strong in other revenue centres, with increases in F&B revenue (up 19.2%) and Conference and Banqueting revenue (up 15.4%), on a per-available-room basis. As a result, September 2019 TRevPAR was 17.4% ahead of the same period last year.

Expenses were no exception to this upwards trend: labour costs per available room increased by 5.9% YOY and overheads did so by 6.9%. Nonetheless, profit conversion in Barcelona was recorded at a healthy 52.2% of total revenue.

Profit & Loss Key Performance Indicators – Barcelona (in EUR)

Dusseldorf hotels proved in September that increases in rooms revenue do not automatically translate into enhanced profits, as GOPPAR in the city suffered a 14.1% YOY decline in the face of RevPAR growth. After three consecutive months of negative variance, September YTD 2019 GOPPAR fell 9.0% behind the same period last year.

Elevated occupancy (up 0.2 percentage points YOY) and average rate (up 2.3% YOY) led to a 2.5% YOY increase in RevPAR. However, this was not enough to counter the 10.5% YOY drop in ancillary revenues, which resulted in a 2.1% YOY TRevPAR drop.

Hotels in Dusseldorf managed a small improvement in labour costs in September, which were down 0.6% YOY. But this was not the case with all expenses, as overheads expanded by 3.4% YOY. Profit conversion in the city was recorded at 28.7%.

Profit & Loss Key Performance Indicators – Dusseldorf (in EUR)