F1 drives Singapore hotels’ average room rate, revenues to new highs in September

REVERSING from a dip in August, Singapore hotels’ average room rate (ARR) reached a 14-year high of S$284.37 in September, with overall hotel room revenue and revenue per available room (RevPAR) also hitting new highs.

ARR was up 82.7 per cent from a year ago, or up 14.1 per cent compared to August’s revised rate of S$249.16, according to latest Singapore Tourism Board (STB) data on Friday (Oct 28).

“Hotel outperformance in September was driven by the F1 Singapore Grand Prix event, which saw a record turnout, after a two-year hiatus,” said Cushman and Wakefield head of research Wong Xian Yang. The F1 night race debuted in Singapore in September 2008 – which was also when the last record ARR of S$298.65 was reached.

Overall hotel room revenues surged to S$390.8 million in September, more than five times the year-ago figure and surpassing the pre-pandemic high of S$383.4 million in August 2019. On a monthly basis, it was up 24.6 per cent from S$313.6 million in August.

The gains came as tourist arrivals climbed to 778,141 in September, the highest level since the pandemic started. RevPAR for the month was S$236.52, beating the previous S$225.89 record in February 2014. On the year, it more than doubled; on the month, it was up 22.1 per cent.

September’s average occupancy rate of 83.2 per cent was higher than August’s 77.7 per cent and marginally exceeded pre-pandemic rates in December 2019 and January 2020.

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All hotel categories saw gains, with ARRs of S$147.03 in the economy segment, S$233.41 in the mid-tier segment, S$338.54 in the upscale segment and S$554.69 in the luxury segment.

For the first nine months of 2022, overall room revenue was S$2.1 billion, beating the full-year figures of S$965.3 million in 2021 and S$1.23 billion in 2020. Year-to-date ARR reached S$233.96, up 54.6 per cent from the year-ago period; RevPAR rose 114.6 per cent to S$169.74; and the average occupancy rate rose 20.3 per cent to reach 72.6 per cent.

Wong expects a fairly strong performance in October too, as some visitors could stay on post-race. While indicators are expected to fall following September’s outperformance, he sees a “steady” recovery of tourist arrivals towards pre-pandemic levels – but not a drastic one, given travel restrictions in China and economic uncertainty.