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 68.9 percentage-point annual drop in the average occupancy rate in Beirut’s hospitality sector to 10% during the month of March 2020. This comes on the back of the strained local political and economic conditions and the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, the average room rate fell by 34.3% y-o-y to $122, with the average room yield plunging by 91.6% to $12.

The following chart captures the monthly evolution in the occupancy rate in Beirut’s 4 and 5 star hotels over the March 2019 – March 2020 period:

On a regional basis, Beirut recorded the lowest average occupancy rate (22%) among the ten covered Middle Eastern capitals during the first quarter of 2020, with Abu Dhabi outperforming its regional peers, recording the highest average occupancy rate of 77%, followed by Doha (66%) and both Riyadh and Cairo (62% each). Beirut’s 4 and 5 star hotels charged the fourth lowest average room rate of $130, noting that Riyadh recorded the highest average room rate of $169, followed by Kuwait City ($145) and Manama ($139), only to name a few.