STR: Cayman Islands, Bermuda See Occupancy Jumps
By Fatima Thompson
CJ Contributor
HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee—A mixture of lower occupancy levels and higher rates fell in line with year-to-date hotel performance in the Caribbean, according to the latest data from STR.
In November, occupancy fell 2.8% year over year to an absolute level of 64.4%. However, 3.3% growth in average daily rate (ADR) pushed revenue per available room (RevPAR) up 0.3% compared with November 2016. Through the first 11 months of 2017, RevPAR was up 1.5%, due to a 2.4% rise in ADR countering a 0.9% decline in occupancy.
Overall in 2017, the region has seen five months with a year-over-year decline in occupancy, including two of the last three. After a significant 16.5% drop during a hurricane-ravaged September, occupancy was up 3.5% in October.
When looking at the November performance of several select islands, the Cayman Islands experienced an 18.4% increase in occupancy, while Bermuda, a much smaller hotel market, showed a 14.6% rise in the metric.
Conversely, rather significant year-over-year occupancy declines were felt in Cuba (-23.3%) and the Bahamas (-18.1%).
For the year, demand is up for the region as a whole (+1.7% as of November). Supply growth (+2.6%) has grown more substantially, however, causing the aforementioned year-to-date dip in occupancy.
That supply growth will continue as there are a number of new rooms in the development pipeline, specifically in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Cuba.
As of November, there were six projects under construction in the Dominican Republic accounting for 2,020 new rooms.
Another three projects in final planning would add 1,086 new rooms to the market. Jamaica reported just one in construction project in November, but another four projects and 3,190 rooms in final planning. Cuba showed a total a 2,628 rooms between five projects in the overall pipeline
For questions regarding hotel data reporting in the Caribbean, please contact Fatima Thompson, Associate Director of Business Development, Hotels Caribbean & Mexico at fatima@str.com
