Germany, Italy, Spain Lead June European Lodging Rate, Occupancy Declines

Europe in June saw lodging occupancy fall year-over-year by 7.3 percent, and in terms of euros, average daily rate dropped by 13.6 percent and revenue per available room by 19.9 percent, according to data released this week by Smith Travel Research Global.

Germany, Italy and Spain all saw RevPAR fall by about 20 percent, and RevPAR in Russia plummeted by 36.9 percent. Austria and Switzerland also saw significant drops, partially hurt from unfavorable comparisons with revenue generated by last year's Euro 2008 football championship, according to STR Global managing director James Chappell. The United Kingdom's saw a more modest RevPAR drop of 9.7 percent.

Düsseldorf, Germany, saw the most drastic drops in RevPAR and average daily rate, which declined by 62.2 percent and 52.1 percent, respectively, and its occupancy was down 21.1 percent. Salzburg and Vienna in Austria also had drops higher than 40 percent in both RevPAR and rate.

The only city in the report to see significant increases in RevPAR and rates was Tel Aviv, Israel, where rates were up 9.6 percent and RevPAR up 1.4 percent. Venice, Italy, also saw slight increases in both metrics.

Four markets also saw a slight uptick in occupancy: London and Birmingham in England, and Gothenburg and Stockholm in Sweden.