COVID-19 webinar summary: 5 key points on Europe hotel performance, 15 January

Knowing you might not have time to watch our full webinars, we are pleased to continue our series of COVID-19 webinar summaries. In this latest edition, we talk performance in Europe.

Resilience

Despite a resurgence of COVID-19 cases and a second round of lockdowns, roughly 80% of hotels remain open across Europe. That is down from a 90% open rate in October but up substantially from the early points of the pandemic when two of three hotels (roughly 66%) were closed in Europe. In some countries, nine of 10 hotels were closed during the first wave of the pandemic. 

However, even as hoteliers demonstrate their resiliency to the second wave, it is important to note that more hotels might close in the coming months if restrictions remain in place.

Occupancy falls back

Compared with other key regions around the globe, Europe’s occupancy was the lowest on a rolling 7-day average ending with 3 January (14.9%). During the same time, the Middle East posted the highest occupancy level (58.9%) followed closely by China (49.8%) and the U.S. (40.1%).

How has the second lockdown affected hotel performance?

All countries across Europe have felt the impact of the second lockdown. Czech Republic, Poland, Germany and Italy saw occupancy levels below 10%. 

Market-level resilience

Certain markets across Europe showed resilience during December, mostly driven by domestic demand. 

Occupancy on the books shows events impact

As of 4 January, Glasgow occupancy on the books was almost 90% for November 2021 thanks to the UN Climate Change Conference (1-12 November).

Powered by Forward STAR data, the below image includes occupancy on the books for the next 365 days (as of 4 January) in Glasgow, and further insights are provided in the full webinar recording. Occupancy-on-the-books intelligence will help us all understand recovery and provide much-needed context. Those insights can be accessed for free when you submit your data. If you are interested, please email sales@str.com.

For further insights into COVID-19’s impact on global hotel performance, visit our content hub.