Latest HA Perspective
InterContinental sees recovery in Europe
InterContinental delivered strong first quarter results, with its seventh successive quarter of revenue growth.
The outlook remains strong, with 6.1% revpar growth in April and European markets showing a strong recovery, up 9%.
Hyatt makes Mexico pitch
Hyatt saw revpar up, but profits flat in the first quarter, as the company concurrently announced a major investment to take the Hyatt Regency brand into Mexico City.
Having successfully integrated last year’s acquisition of the LodgeWorks portfolio, which is performing ahead of expectations, Hyatt management also raised the prospect of making further strategic investments to help drive its brands forward. Although fully 70% of Hyatt’s pipeline outside the US is currently in China and India, Europe was mentioned as one possible region for targeting acquisitions.
Orient-Express looks outside of Europe
A strong performance from its Brazilian properties helped deliver a positive first quarter for Orient-Express, though losses in the quarter were up compared with 2011.
The luxury hotel group traditionally sees negative numbers in the quarter, as some of its resorts are closed for the winter season.
Pain in Spain eases
Recent news from Spanish companies has shed a little light on the likely outlook for the sector during 2012. Spanish bank Santander has taken its first write-down on property assets, while hotel operators NH Hoteles and Melia have declared first quarter numbers indicating the market may have lifted from the bottom.
Santander’s move to take a EUR2.7bn write-down on its property loans book comes as a result of a Spanish government demand that the country’s banks make provisions of EUR30bn against their overall EUR128bn liabilities. For Santander, this is a second write-down, meaning the bank has now lopped EUR5bn off the value of their loans. The government is also pushing through mergers, including one between CaixaBank and Banca Civica.
Tourism’s economic value understood but ignored
Booming tourism activity led to receipts breaching the USD1trn barrier in 2011, and already this year’s figures gathered by UNWTO show the positive trend is continuing into this year.
During last year, there was a global 4.6% increase in tourist arrivals, leading to a 3.8% increase in spending over 2010. And it is the BRICs nations which are seeing the greatest increases in international tourism spending, as their increasingly affluent populations can afford international travel.
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