Ernst & Young (EY) published its “Middle East Hotel Benchmark Survey Report” on the performance of 4 and 5 star hotels in the Middle East region, conveying a 50.5 percentage-point annual drop in the average occupancy rate in Beirut’s hospitality sector to 18.0% during the month of November 2019. This comes on the back of the strained local political and economic conditions. Similarly, the average room rate fell by 30% y-o-y to $127, with the average room yield plunging by 81.6% to $23.

The following chart captures the monthly evolution in the occupancy rate in Beirut’s 4 and 5 star hotels over the November 2018 – November 2019 period:

On a regional basis, Beirut recorded the 4^th highest average occupancy rate (65.2%) among covered Middle Eastern capitals during the first eleven months of 2019, with Abu Dhabi outperforming its regional peers, recording the highest average occupancy rate of 78.8%, followed by Cairo (75.6%) and Doha (69.2%). In a related note, Beirut’s 4 and 5 star hotels charged the highest average room rate of $202, right ahead of their likes in Manama ($162) and Kuwait City ($161), only to name a few.