F1 Grand Prix impact on Abu Dhabi hotels dampens

The Formula 1 Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi boosted hotel revenues in November compared to the rest of 2016 but profit per room was well down on previous years, according to new data.

The HotStats survey revealed that at $151.59, profit per room at Abu Dhabi hotels in November was 1.4 times higher than the year-to-date 2016 figure for the city at $63.33, but was 20.3 percent below November 2014 levels.

The survey said 2016 has been a tough year for Abu Dhabi hotels so far, with a challenging economic environment leading to declines across all key measures in the 11 months to November.

Figures showed that occupancy was down by 2.2 percent compared to the same period in 2015, average room rate fell by 8.9 percent, total revenue slumped by 10.7 percent and profit per room was down by 13.7 percent.

HotStats said that while the Grand Prix is a key event in the Abu Dhabi calendar and hotels are typically at capacity enabling management to leverage room rates, the impact of the event in 2016 was well below previous years.

Despite revenue per available room peaking for the year at $183.53, this measure was 17.4 percent off the high in November 2014 ($222.20) with profit per room also well below 2014 levels ($190.31).

In addition to a 12.2 percent year-on-year drop in RevPAR, HotStats said a decline was also recorded in the food and beverage (-8.7 percent) and conference and banqueting (-16.8 percent) departments on a per available room basis.