Press release HOSTA 2019: Dutch hotel market reaches all-time high

Date: 10. September 2019

The Dutch hotel market reached an absolute peak in the past year, according to research by Horwath HTL. Occupancy rates, average room rates and revenues are higher than ever before. However, a tipping point seems to have been reached. Hoteliers do not expect the high growth to continue in the coming years.

Highest results ever
The average occupancy rate of the Dutch hotels has risen from 77.2% in 2017 to 77.7% in 2018. The hotels thus match the record of 1998. The occupancy rate has made a strong recovery in recent years. After the most recent crisis, the occupancy rate had dropped to 66.7% in 2012.

The average room rates rose from € 112 to € 120 last year, an increase of more than 7%. It is the fifth year in a row that room rates are rising. In total, the average room rate in these five years has risen by 26%. The average room rate has now reached an absolute record level, since the survey started in 1978. It passed the 2002 level for the first time, when the previous record price of € 114 was achieved.

Due to the high occupancy and room rates, revenue per available room has also set a record. On average throughout the year, a Dutch hotel room generates € 93 per day in room revenues in 2018. This is 7% more than in 2017, and 40% more than in 2013.

Hoteliers expect growth to decline
Horwath HTL’s research shows that Dutch hoteliers no longer expect strong growth in the coming years. Growing uncertainty about the global economy, influenced by, among other things, the Sino-US trade conflicts and persistent Brexit troubles, is also raising concerns among hoteliers.

Of the more than 400 hoteliers surveyed, less than half, 49%, expect the occupancy rate to increase even further in 2019. Approximately 10% expect to realize a stable occupancy, while 41% expect a decline. Despite this, room rates are expected to continue to rise: 65% of hoteliers expect a rate increase, 6% a stabilization and 29% a decrease.

Hotel market Amsterdam seems to have peaked
The hotel market in the Amsterdam & Schiphol region seems to have already peaked. The occupancy in the capital region did not increase in 2018, but stabilized at 85%. The average room rate still rose sharply: from € 139 to € 151. Average room rates in Amsterdam & Schiphol are now almost 60% higher than those in the rest of the Netherlands. Hoteliers in the region are therefore more pessimistic about the future. Only 38% of hoteliers expect a higher occupancy this year, while 47% expect a decline. The projections for the average room rates are also clearly less positive: although 50% expect to achieve an increase, 44% expect a decrease.

The results for the first half of 2019 seem to confirm Amsterdam’s pessimism: both occupancy rates and average room prices have fallen by approximately 1%. In addition to the impending decline of the global economy, Amsterdam policy also appears to have had an influence on this. In 2019, the municipality of Amsterdam increased the tourist tax again, and reduced its marketing activities, with the aim of controlling mass tourism to the city. However, due to the hotel policy in Amsterdam, which does not support new hotel developments, the occupancy and average room rates are expected to remain at a high level in the coming years.

HOSTA 2019
The HOSTA 2019 report is a publication of consultancy firm Horwath HTL. The report presents the results of the hotel industry in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. 500 three-, four- and five-star hotels in the Benelux participated in the study.