Revenues down for Dublin hotels

THE dearth of tourists has pushed down revenue Dublin hotels earn per room by 7.1% while falling prices have not attracted extra customers.

The authoritative Deloitte & Touche Hotel Benchmark survey indicates hotels in London and Dublin are suffering as tourist numbers, particularly from the US, fall. The benchmark survey indicates that in May, revenue per available room (revpar) in Dublin fell 7.1% compared to the same period last year, while there was a 6.1% fall in room rates. So far this year Dublin revpar is down 3.9%, with occupancy levels 2.6% lower and room rates down 1.3%.

London hotels fared worse with May revpar down 14.3% on May 2002, although better than the 25.3% fall in April. And stockbrokers Dolmen Butler Briscoe, in a note to clients, recommended a switch out of Gresham shares into Jurys Doyle as providing more value at current levels in the Irish hotel sector. Analyst Stuart Draper pointed to Gresham’s sale of its Killarney, Limerick and Galway Ryan Hotels for €35.75m.