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 1.0 percentage-point annual decrease in the average occupancy rate in Beirut’s hospitality sector to 75.0% during the month of July 2022. The average room rate rose by 30.7% y-o-y to $88.0 and the revenue per available room (RevPAR) increased by 29.0% to $66.0.

The following chart captures the monthly evolution in the occupancy rate in Beirut’s 4 and 5 star hotels over the July 2021 – July 2022 period:

On a regional basis, Beirut recorded the fifth lowest average occupancy rate (49.9%) among the nine covered Middle Eastern capitals during the first seven months of 2022. Abu Dhabi outperformed its regional peers, enjoying the highest average occupancy rate of 74.6%, followed by Cairo City (67.9%) and Doha (58.8%). Beirut’s 4 and 5 star hotels charged the lowest average room rate of $67 when priced at the fresh market rate to reflect the sizeable devaluation of the pound. Kuwait City, on the other hand, recorded the highest average room rate of $239, followed by Riyadh ($170) and Manama ($157), only to name a few.