Average room rates (ARR) of Dubai’s four-and five-star hotels continued to slide in September as hotel room supply grows, dropping 2.3% year-on-year, according to a new survey by research firm HotStats. The weakening of ARR to $207.55 and a slightly lower occupancy of 76.6% for the month resulted in a decrease in revenue per available room (RevPAR — an industry measure of rates and occupancies) to $159.02, travel news website eTurbonews reported. Lower RevPAR was compounded by significantly lower food and beverage revenues, which plummeted by 19 percent in September from a year ago. This weakened total revenue per available room (TRevPAR) by 8% to $282.55. A slight increase in operating expenses compounded the weaker overall revenues, which caused gross operating profit per available room (GOPPAR) to drop by 8.7% to $84.66.
