The average occupancy rate in the city’s 3 to 5-star hotels registered an increase of 6.7 percentage points to 88 per cent for the month of February from one year ago, as general room rate dropped 15.3 per cent year-on-year to MOP1,280.5 (US$160) per night.
The latest data from the Macau Hotel Association published by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) shows that the room rate of 4-star hotels posted the biggest drop, down 19.1 per cent year-on-year to MOP761.8 per night, while recording the highest year-on-year growth in occupancy, up 10.1 percentage points to 88.4 per cent.
In addition, 5-star hotels and 3-star hotels saw their average occupancy increase during the month, up 5.3 per cent and 5 per cent year-on-year, to 87.3 per cent and 91.1 per cent, respectively.
Average room rates of the two types of hotels, meanwhile, fell by 13.1 per cent and 18.6 per cent year-on-year, to MOP1,620.4 per night and MOP836.3 per night, respectively.
On a month-on-month comparison, average hotel occupancy rose 5.4 percentage points from 82.6 per cent for January, with room prices declining 13.9 per cent from MOP1,4452.6 per night.
The trend
For the first two months of the year, hotel occupancy rates jumped 5.9 percentage points year-on-year to 85.3 per cent on average, with average room rates dipping 2.6 per cent year-on-year to some MOP1,366.6 per night.
The biggest decrease in room rate was again apparent in 4-star hotels, down 8.8 per cent year-on-year to MOP792.9 per night. However, this type of hotel also recorded the highest year-on-year growth in occupancy, up by 7 percentage points to 85 per cent.
Even though average room rates in local 5-star hotels only posted a slight decrease of 0.5 per cent year-on-year in the two-month period, amounting to MOP1,744.9, their average occupancy rate reached 84.7 per cent, a year-on-year increase of 5.5 percentage points.
Meanwhile, 3-star hotels reached the highest occupancy at 90.1 per cent, up 5.2 percentage points from the same period of last year. The hotels’ room rate dropped 6.4 per cent year-on-year, to MOP850.5 per night.
According to MGTO, the Association’s data is based upon its 44 member hotels. Latest official data from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) shows that there were a total of 64 3 to 5-star hotels operating in the MSAR as at the end of January, providing some 35,000 rooms and 94,000 beds.
