Hotel room prices continue to fall

The city’s average hotel occupancy rate increased slightly in May from April, as room rates decreased, and both indicators fell compared to the same month in 2015, according to the latest data released on Wednesday by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO).
May saw an occupancy rate of 81.9 per cent, with 5-star and 4-star hotels making the biggest contribution to the monthly increases: 1.3 per cent to 79 per cent; and 0.3 per cent to 85 per cent, respectively.
Meanwhile, 3-star hotels saw their occupancy rates decrease 1.6 per cent to 88.8 per cent. At the same time, average room rates saw a 1.4 per cent decrease, to MOP1,270 in May, down from MOP1,288 (US$161) in April, with all types of hotels registering a decrease in nightly room rates.
On a year-to-year comparison, the general occupancy rate in Macau hotels decreased 1.2 per cent in May, while average room rates went down 15.6 per cent, from MOP1,504 in 2015, according to the data from MGTO.
The yearly decrease was mainly generated by a slump in the territory’s 5-star hotels, with a 3 per cent decrease in hotel occupancy rates and a 13.3 per cent fall in average room rates, from MOP1,899 to MOP1,648.
On the other hand, occupancy rates in 3 and 4-star hotels in the region registered an increase of 2.1 per cent and 1.4 per cent, respectively, due to a significant decrease in room rates from last year. Last month also saw 4-star hotels experience a 19.8 per cent decrease in room rates year-on-year, from MOP899 to MOP721, with 3-star hotels seeing a similar fall of 19.9 per cent, from an average MOP1,026 to MOP821.
Gloomy hoteliers
Altogether, the average occupancy rate of local hotels reached 80 per cent during the first five months of the year, down 2.2 percentage points compared to the 82.2 per cent registered during the same period last year.
From January to May the average room rate was MOP1,336, a 15.5 per cent decrease from the average MOP1,581 per night for the same period one year prior.
Meanwhile, 4-star hotels, registered the largest decrease in room rates, of 18.5 per cent year-on-year, down to MOP789 in the first five months, while registering the biggest occupancy rate increases, 0.7 percentage points year-on-year to 81.5 per cent.
At the same time, 3-star hotels managed an increase in their occupancy rates by 0.1 per cent to 86.7, following a 0.4 per cent decrease registered in April, while room rates decreased 16.8 per cent to MOP894.
However, occupancy rates at 5-star hotels declined 4 percentage points year-on-year, reaching 78.1 per cent, while room rates decreased by 13.7 per cent year-on-year to MOP1,699.