According to HotStats, y-o-y profit per room at Brussels hotels plummeted by 44.5% for the month, to €30.09 from €54.25 during the same period in 2015, as the city felt the impact of the terror attacks at Brussels Zaventem Airport and Maelbeek metro station on 22 March, as well as the unrest which followed as police carried out raids across the city searching for the perpetrators.
Unsurprisingly, volume in the Belgian capital was hardest hit, but whilst the terror attacks resulted in a 16.7 percentage point y-o-y decline in occupancy for the month, to 58.6% from 75.3%, top line performance has been challenged since November 2015, when Brussels was put on the highest level of security alert further to the Paris attacks and the associated shut down of the Belgian capital.
Declining volume and price levels in the capital have resulted in a drop in RevPAR in January (-10.5%), February (-1.4%) and March (-20.1%) 2016 as the number of visitors to the city has significantly declined.
As a result of depleted revenue levels, considerable declines in departmental profit per available room were recorded at Brussels hotels in Q1 2016, including a drop in the rooms (-14.2%) and food & beverage (-29%) departments.
Overall, year-on-year GOPPAR levels in Q1 2016 have plummeted by 32%, with profit per room in the 12 months to March 2016 already 9.4% behind the same period in 2014/15 at €35.77 from €39.47.
