Five-star hotels in Cape Town have experienced the biggest drop of 11,3% in average daily room rates (ADR) in the industry this year despite an 8,9% increase in occupancy to 63,4. They are followed by five-star hotels in Sandton, which dropped their rates by 8,8%, while occupancies there stayed fairly stable at around 52%.

The statistics are for the period January to March compared with the same period last year. They are contained in the authoritative Star Report of STR Global, the international hotel data tracking company that provides market share analysis to all major international hotel chains and brands.

The ADR for Cape Town’s five-star hotels dropped to R1 867, compared with R1 407 among Sandton’s five-star establishments. Revenue per available room (RevPAR) in Cape Town’s five-star hotels dropped by 3,4% to R1 185 but in Sandton’s five-star hotels by 9,4% to R735.

In KwaZulu Natal, Umhlanga hotels suffered the biggest drop of 4,3% in occupancies to 49,6%; with a 5,8% decline in ADR to R925 and a 9,8% drop in RevPAR to R459. 

Occupancies of five-star hotels in South Africa in general rose slightly to 54,8%, but ADR dropped by 9,1% to R1 629 and RevPAR dropped by 6,1% to R893.