June 2014: Athens, Greece, Reports Largest Increase In Hotel Occupancy In Europe

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Hotel occupancy in Athens, Greece, last month rose by 19.9 percent, compared to last year, to 88.2 percent and reported the largest increase in Europe, according to data released recently by STR Global on the European hotel industry for June 2014.

Bucharest and Romania followed the Greek capital with an 11.3-percent increase to 74.5 percent.

On the other hand Moscow, Russia (-12.4 percent to 67.7 percent), and Frankfurt, Germany (-11.5 percent to 65.7 percent), posted the largest occupancy decreases.

RevPAR in Athens on the up

Athens was also among the three markets that experienced revenue per available room (RevPAR) growth of more than 10 percent in June (31.1 percent increase to 108.10 euros). Following were Copenhagen (+23.5 percent to 128.57 euros) and Edinburgh (+10.3 percent to 103.95 euros).

Geneva, Switzerland, fell 13.3 percent in RevPAR to 185.96 euros, reporting the largest decrease in that metric.

Year-to-date June 2014, Europe’s occupancy rose 2.1 percent to 66 percent, its average daily rate (ADR) grew 2.4 percent to 103.90 euros and its RevPAR increased 4.5 percent to 68.59 euros.

“As economies across Europe improve, we are starting to see the impact in the hotel industry,” said Elizabeth Winkle, managing director of STR Global.

However, Ms. Winkle added that concerns do exist, particularly in France, where the proposal of a new hotel tax is on the horizon. “With recent VAT increases on hotel stays, the new tax, if passed, could have a damaging impact on hotels performance and profitability,” she added.

STR Global benchmarks hotel data for over 6.4 million hotel rooms worldwide.