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. In details, Lebanon is still feeling the pinch of the Gaza war which extended its ramifications to the southern part of Lebanon, with hotel occupancy dropping by 17.1 percentage points y-o-y in January 2024 to 19.7% (its lowest January reading since at least the year 2014), and by 42.5 percentage points from September 2023’s reading of 62.2% before the onset of the war in Gaza. Conversely, the average room rate almost tripled y-o-y in January to read $145.0. As a result, the revenue per available room (RevPAR), which is the product of the occupancy and average room rate, rose by 54.1% y-o-y to $29.0.

The following chart captures the monthly evolution in the occupancy rate in Beirut’s 4 and 5 star hotels over the January 2023 – January 2024 period:

On a regional basis, Beirut recorded the lowest average occupancy rate in the hospitality sector among the nine covered Middle Eastern capitals in January 2024. Doha, on the other hand, outperformed its regional peers, enjoying the highest average occupancy rate of 88.2%, followed by Abu Dhabi (87.7%) and Cairo City (75.5%) only to name a few. Beirut’s 4 and 5 star hotels charged the fifth highest average room rate of $145, followed by Manama ($144), Amman ($133) and Doha ($124) among others. Riyadh, on the other hand, recorded the highest average room rate of $233 followed by Kuwait City ($199) and Cairo City ($158).