Events that influenced 2019 hotel performance

A number of key events influenced global hotel markets in 2019. Obviously, some provided a boost to hoteliers, while others negatively affected the key performance metrics. We’ve analyzed of those events five below, including major sporting events and ongoing protests that caused declines that could continue in 2020.

Hong Kong protests (15 March 2019 – Ongoing)

Ongoing protests in Hong Kong led to significant decreases in the country’s hotel occupancy during 2019, including a significant year-over-year decline of 31.0% in November. Between the start of the protests on 15 March and 31 December 2019, Hong Kong reported double-digit declines in occupancy (-13.2%) and average daily date (ADR) (-14.3%), resulting in 25.6% drop in revenue per available room (RevPAR).

France hosts FIFA Women’s World Cup (7 June – 7 July 2019)

France hosted the most watched FIFA Women’s World Cup in the history of the tournament, reaching 1.12 billion viewers (Source: FIFA). Helped by the event, June was Paris’ best performing month in 2019 with double-digit increases in ADR (+15.0%) and RevPAR (+15.1%). Furthermore, June was the best performing month for the market in terms of absolute occupancy (88.6%).

Japan Rugby World Cup (20 September – 2 November 2019)

On the day of the Rugby World Cup opening ceremony (20 September 2019), Japan produced a RevPAR increase of 6.6%. Interestingly, a 3-day decline in the metric followed and can be considered an indication of visitors waiting for the tournament to heat up before making their way to Japan. On Saturday, 28 September (during the tournament’s second weekend), occupancy (+11.5% to 85.6%), ADR (+4.6% to JPY19,627.19) and RevPAR (+16.6% to JPY16,795.63) increased notably.

Chile protests (14 October 2019 – ongoing)

Protests in Chile led to significant declines in the country’s hotel occupancy during the final two weeks of October. The decreases, most pronounced the day after a government curfew was announced (20 October 2019), pushed Chile’s October occupancy down 10.5% to an absolute level of 58.8%, the lowest for any October in STR’s Chile database.

Berlin Wall, 30th anniversary of the fall (9 November 2019)

On 9 November, Berlin celebrated the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. During the celebration weekend (8-10 November 2019), Berlin reported increases in each of the three key performance metrics and produced a double-digit occupancy lift (+10.2%) that Saturday.

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