IGHP: February a bit better, but the forecasts are getting worse

photo. press materials

According to the results of the survey by the Chamber of Commerce of the Polish Hotel Industry, the results of hotels in February were still far from satisfactory, but an improvement is visible compared to January and the previous months of the end of 2021.

Prices in hotels are going up, which is the result of the dynamically growing costs of goods and services, including, in particular, gas and electricity prices, as well as salaries.
In February, one third of facilities did not exceed 30 percent. (in January it was 53 percent.), and a satisfactory level of occupancy above 50 percent. has already obtained 30 percent. The most numerous group (36 percent. of the respondents) were hotels with an occupancy rate in the range of 31-50 percent.

Better in city hotels

The results of city hotels and non-city hotels clearly differed in the occupancy structure. Among the first, the largest group (43 percent.) constituted the facilities that received a turnout in the range of 31-50 percent. – in non-urban areas it was only 15 percent, respectively. At the same time, in non-urban hotels as much as 47 percent. occupancy did not exceed 30 percent., which seems surprising as February was a full month of school winter holidays.
The reason for this is that some extra -urban hotels are not located in tourist destinations associated with winter rest.

In turn, an occupancy of over 50 percent. obtained 38 percent. objects. In city hotels, these proportions were very similar – 30 percent occupancy. did not exceed 29 percent. hotels, while the result above 50 percent. 28 percent obtained the attendance. objects.

MICE sector – results similar to urban facilities

Hotels serving guests of the business segment recorded results in a structure very similar to city hotels. The most numerous group (38 percent.) constituted objects that obtained a turnout in the range of 31-50 percent., covering 30 percent. did not exceed 30 percent. hotels, and the result above 50 percent. 32 percent obtained the attendance. objects.
The most favorable results were obtained by hotels serving the segment of guests who came for leisure, and this is confirmed by the effect of school holidays. Occupancy over 50 percent. obtained 39 percent. facilities, attendance in the range of 31-50 percent. 26 percent., and the threshold of 30 percent. occupancy did not exceed 35 percent. hotels.

Prices keep rising

The necessity to raise them by hotels results from the dynamically growing costs of goods and services, including, in particular, gas and electricity prices, as well as salaries. The economic consequences of the war in Ukraine will be another factor forcing these increases.

62 percent. hotels obtained average prices higher than in February 2020., with 33 percent. recorded increases by more than 10 percent. In the case of 13 percent. objects prices have not changed, and the decrease in the average price recorded a 19 percent. hotels.

The prognosis keeps getting worse

Data on the adopted reservations for the next three months still duplicate the unfavorable scheme of previous periods: the forecasts are weak and deteriorate with each subsequent month, although they slightly improved compared to past months.

There is still a short booking window. 3/4 of hotels forecast an occupancy rate of less than 30% in March., including two equal groups (23 and 24 percent. facilities each) with an occupancy in the range of 11-20 percent, respectively. and 21-30 percent. – and this is the first improvement in the structure of the next month’s attendance forecast in many months.
In April, 70 percent. hotels have reservations at a level not higher than 20 percent. turnout, and this is also an improvement over the previous periods, although the level of forecasted occupancy is obviously far from satisfactory.

Forecasts for May are similar to April. 67 percent. hotels does not exceed the occupancy rate of 20 percent., with two equal groups: 24 percent each. facilities with a turnout in the range of 6-10 percent. and 11-20 percent.

About the survey

135 hotels located in all voivodeships participated in the survey conducted on March 1-4. Of these, 75 percent. are located in cities. 41 percent. are network objects. Most of the respondents (77 percent.) are hotels with up to 150 rooms, 58 percent. The hotel has fewer than 100 rooms and the average facility size was 106 rooms.