LONDON, May 7 — Holiday Inn-owner InterContinental Hotels said today it expects revenue per available room (RevPAR) to plunge 80 per cent in April as the coronavirus crisis was the “biggest challenge the hotel industry has ever faced”.
The Denham, UK-based company said the occupancy levels dropped to historic lows in March and April, with first-quarter global RevPAR slumping 25 per cent.
Travel and leisure businesses have been among the worst hit by the pandemic, with hundreds of billions of dollars in business trips and holidays cancelled as countries impose sweeping restrictions.
The Crowne Plaza, Regent and Hualuxe operator said around 15 per cent of its estate was closed by April-end, with half its hotels in Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa being shut.
“In the US, our biggest market, our franchise portfolio of 3,750 mainstream hotels has seen lower levels of RevPAR decline than the industry, and as at the end of April we had ~90 per cent of our estate open,” the British hotel operator said.
RevPAR from its Greater China hotels plunged 65.3 per cent, reflecting the impact of the outbreak in January, IHG said, but added that occupancy levels are now running in the mid-20 per cent range, up from around 5 per cent in mid-February.
Last month, the company had said it raised £600 million from Bank of England loans under the government’s coronavirus aid scheme. It had also announced US$150 million in cost cuts earlier this year. — Reuters
