The average daily rate for a three- to five-star hotel room in Macau nearly halved year-on-year in May, show data compiled by the Macau Hotel Association.
The reporting period aligned with a time when tourism to Macau continued to be severely depressed, coinciding with regional travel restrictions linked to Covid-19.
The average daily rate for a five-star room saw the smallest decline, down 12.4 percent year-on-year in May.
The general average rate for the three- to five-star category was MOP698.30 (US$87.48) in May, a decline of 47.2 percent compared to MOP1,321.90 in the same month a year earlier.
The average rate of a five-star room in the reporting period was MOP1,385.30, versus MOP1,581.30 in May 2019.
The overall decline in room prices this May coincided with a severe year-on-year decline in hotel occupancy rates.
During the month, overall occupancy in the three- to five-star properties represented by the association fell to 9.3 percent. That was an 81.1-percentage point decline on the 90.4 percent occupancy achieved in May 2019.
Three- and four-star establishments respectively had a slightly more than 71-percentage point year-on-year fall in occupancy, to 12.0 percent and 17.6 percent respectively.
Five-star places fared worst, with an average 5.3 percent occupancy. They started from a higher base, i.e., 93.1 percent occupancy, in May 2019.
For the January to May period inclusive, overall average nightly room rates were MOP1,002.80, down 26.2 percent year-on-year on the MOP1,359.80 achieved in the same period in 2019.
Four-star pricing took the biggest hit in the January to May period, registering a 47.3 percent fall year-on-year, to MOP444.40, from MOP842.80 in 2019.
The average occupancy rate across the three- to five-star category in January to May this year was 25.9 percent, broadly reflecting the trend in each individual category. Occupancy overall was down 65.4 percentage points from the 91.3 percent occupancy achieved in the first five months of 2019.
