Singapore hotel average room rates slip in November

SINGAPORE hotels’ average room rate (ARR) slipped for the second straight month in November, but remained higher than rates recorded prior to September 2022’s 14-year high, Singapore Tourism Board data showed on Friday (Dec 23).

ARR was up 58.6 per cent from the year-ago period to S$276.53, but 2.3 per cent lower than October’s revised S$282.91 and below September’s record S$283.47.

Overall hotel room revenues also dropped in November, dipping 5 per cent to S$391.9 million from S$412.4 million in October, but still surpassing the pre-pandemic high of S$383.4 million in August 2019. It was also close to four times the year-ago figure.

November’s lower figures came as tourist arrivals fell marginally to 816,254 for the month, breaking a nine-month growth streak.

Revenue per available room (RevPAR) for the month was S$239.51, lower than the previous month’s record high of S$240.61 by 0.5 per cent. On the year, RevPAR was up 76.3 per cent.

But November’s average occupancy rate of 86.6 per cent was higher than the preceding month’s 85.1 per cent and marginally exceeded pre-pandemic rates in December 2019 and January 2020. On the year, it was up 8.7 per cent.

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Performances were mixed across hotel categories. ARR was up for the month in the upscale segment (S$338.83), but down in the economy (S$141.90), mid-tier (S$220.97) and luxury (S$554.81) segments.

For the first 11 months of 2022, overall room revenue was S$2.9 billion, beating the combined full-year figures of 2021 and 2020. Year-to-date ARR reached S$244.17, up 58.6 per cent from the year-ago period; RevPAR rose 115.9 per cent to S$184.16; and the average occupancy rate rose 20 per cent to reach 75.4 per cent.