Effect of COVID-19 crisis on RevPAR in Portugal and Spain

Proceedings of The 3rd International Conference on Tourism Management and Hospitality

Year: 2023

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/3rd.ictmh.2023.03.100

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Effect of COVID-19 crisis on Revenue per Available Room in Portugal and Spain

Catarina Crespo, Conceição Gomes, Cátia Malheiros ,Luís Lima Santos

 

 

ABSTRACT: 

Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR) is a crucial metric for measuring and comparing hotel performance and there are several factors that determine its increase or decrease. The purpose of this study is to identify the determinants of RevPAR and to understand how the COVID-19 (COronaVIrus Disease of 2019) health crisis affected hotel Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as the Average Daily Rate (ADR), the Occupancy rate and the RevPAR in the Iberian Peninsula through a literature review and a comparative analysis. With data collected from STR (Smith Travel Research) and from Our World in Data, this study analyses the RevPAR, the ADR, the Occupancy rate, and the cumulative COVID-19 confirmed cases from Portugal, Spain and the European average. The results show that, despite having similar hotel performances, Portugal is more volatile to seasonality, while Spain has a slightly higher RevPAR average. COVID-19 negatively affected RevPAR and occupancy rates in both countries, reflecting on a brutal impact like no other crisis. Additionally, the study highlights a greater influence of occupancy rate on RevPAR results compared to ADR. The analysis reveals a close relationship among the indicators in the Iberian Peninsula, indicating a growing trend.

keywords: RevPAR, determinants, COVID-19, Spain, Portugal