The N.5 Hotelier Pulse Report - GuestCentric · 2020. 10. 8. · Pulse Report Weeks: June 22, 2020 - July 27, 2020 Welcome to the 5th Edition of the Hotelier PULSE Report! In this

The Hotelier Pulse Report

N.522.06.2020 / 27.08.2020

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01.08.2020

Page 1

The HotelierPulse Report

Weeks: June 22, 2020 - July 27, 2020

Welcome to the 5th Edition of the Hotelier PULSE Report!

In this edition, the big news is that a large number of markets and hotels have moved from complete shutdown to recovery with restrictions. The number of properties and markets open went up from 30.8% in late June to a whopping 72.3% today.

As travel restrictions continue to ease and more hotels reopen their doors, it’s safe to say that the industry, albeit with still low occupancy levels, is embarking on the road to a ‘New Normal’.

Read on to see the full results of our July survey.

Occupancy Trends

Last month, Hoteliers we surveyed expected an average of 29.0% occupancy in July. For this edition, we asked Hoteliers whether they expected their properties to be below, the same, or above this expectation in July. Here are their answers:

The majority of our hoteliers surveyed (69.3%) believed the expectation for July would not be met, compared to 20.0% who believed their occupancy would exceed the expectation.

0

20

40

60

80

100

69.3%

10.7%

20.0%

Expect occupancy to be higher

Expect occupancy to be the same

Expect occupancy to be lower

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2.6%89.5% of City Center Hotel respondents believed occupancy in July would not meet the goal of 29.0%. 60.0% of B&Bs also expect to be below 20.0%.

Not surprisingly, the best performing segment is resorts and only 59.1% of resorts expect occupancy to be 29.0% or better.

City Center Hotels

Resort Hotels

Bed&Breakfast

Lower Same Higher

89.5% 7.9%

40.9% 40.9%

60.0% 33.3%6.7%

18.2%

What is your expectation for total occupancy in August 2020?

The average occupancy rate expected for August is 36.4%, marking a 7.0% increase compared to July.

The property segment with the highest occupancy expectation is Resorts at 50.9%, followed by B&Bs at 45.3%. City Center Hotels expect occupancy to be 25.0% in August. In last month’s poll, City Center Hotels were already the least optimistic, stating they were expecting a 26.1% occupancy rate in July.

However, the most positive segment was B&Bs instead of Resorts as in this month’s poll. Resort Hotels were expecting an occupancy of 31.2%, B&Bs of 32.8%. Both Resorts and B&Bs are expecting better results for August than for July, however City Center Hotels lowered their occupancy expectations.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

36.4% Average Rating

B&Bs

Resorts

City Center Hotels

20

40

60

80

100

for July

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1. How are hotels doing this week?

In comparison with the 4th edition of The Hotelier PULSE Report published in late June, the percentage of properties in complete shutdown has decreased drastically to almost half, from 69.2% to only 37.7%. This means more hotels have opened their doors in July than in May and June combined.

Consequently, these properties moved to the phase of ‘Major Restrictions’. Of the properties surveyed, 44.2% are currently in the ‘Major Restrictions’ stage (vs 19.7% in June).

Properties with ‘Minor Restrictions’, and in ‘Recovery’ stages also increased in July, representing an upward trend across the industry. 5.2% of hotels featured this report are in the minor restriction stage while properties in the Recovery phase now represent 13.0%.

0

20

40

60

80

100

Week of May 3 Week of June 1 Week of June 22 Week of July 27Week of May 17

Shutdown

Major Restrictions

Minor Restrictions

Recovery

While 54.5% of hoteliers said in June they were already open or on the verge of reopening, which was already a signi�cant improvement from results in May, the number has jumped again in July.

72.9% of respondents said their hotel is either already open or will be open at the end of July. Consequently, 13.0% of properties will reopen in August (vs 25.8% who expected this would be the case back in June). In this report, 7.8% (vs 9.1% in June) of properties believe they will reopen in the next 2 months, while 2.6% (vs 10.6% in June) believe they will reopen in 3 months or more.

Already open

This month

Next month

In 2 months

In 3 months or more

0

20

40

60

80

100

Week of May 3 Week of June 1 Week of June 22Week of May 17

When Will You Open?


2.5%

4.6%

Page 4

In the past couple of weeks, 50.0% of City Center Hotels were already open, representing the property segment with less hotels already operating.

On the opposite side, Bed & Breakfasts have the highest number of respondents saying their properties are already open at 73.3%. Meanwhile, 63.6% of Resorts said the same. Currently, 32.5% of City Center Hotels expect to reopen in August, and only 7.5% will wait 3 or more months to do so.

City Center Hotels

Resort Hotels

Bed&Breakfast

City Center Hotels

Resort Hotels

Bed&Breakfast

Open This monthIn 2 months In 3 months or more

Next month

50.0%

63.6%

73.3% 13.3% 6.7%6.7%

22.7% 9.1%

12.5% 20.0% 10.0%7.5%


While the sentiment was much more optimistic about �nancial recovery forecast in the 4th Edition of Pulse, in this edition the expectation is not so bright. Only 45.5% of the Hoteliers believe their business will recover to 2019 levels in 2021, compared to 69.7% in Edition 4 and the lowest level since we started polling hotels. The number of hotels expecting to only recover to 2019 levels in 2023 has shot up to about a third of all hotels. With hotels open and experiencing low occupancy levels, it is not surprising that optimism declined. If recovery in occupancy continues, we expect sentiment to increase again.

This edition marks the lowest number since the 1st edition of The Hotelier PULSE Report. This month, 37.7% of hoteliers expect �nancial recovery to occur in 2022, while 31.2% expect this to occur in 2023.

2. Financial Recovery Forecast

0

20

40

60

80 In 2021In 2022

In 2023Never

When do you think your business will recover to the same financial position as 2019?

Week of May 3

Week of June 1

Week of June 22

Week of July 27

Week of May 17

City Center Hotels and Resorts are the most optimistic property segment regarding �nancial recovery, with 50.0% of both property segments expecting to �nancially recover to 2019 levels in 2021. Only 26.7% of Bed & Breakfasts expect the same. Almost half of Bed & Breakfasts featured in this edition (46.7%) expect to �nancially recover to 2019 levels during or after July 2022. Jan./June 2021 July/Dec. 2021 Jan./June 2022

In 2023 or later NeverJuly/Dec. 2022

5.0%

9.1%

6.7% 20.0% 20.0%26.7% 26.7%

40.9% 22.8% 18.2% 9.1%

45.0% 20.0% 10.0% 12.5%



3. Concerns, key priorities and short-term strategies to prepare for the upturn

From editions 1 to 4, ‘Implementing an enhanced cleaning program to accommodate guests' Health & Safety concerns has been the number 1 priority in overcoming this crisis and preparing for the upturn.

In this edition however, the gap appears to be closing, with 50.0% of respondents claiming this is still the top priority. For the �rst time since we launched the Hotelier PULSE Report series back in April, 42.9% of respondents have chosen another option as a top priority, to ‘Create special o�ers & packages’. This may be a re�ection of many hotels having already adequate safety measures in place and now focusing on getting guests and increasing occupancy. This priority is closely followed by ‘Redesigning sales and marketing strategies to focus on new markets/segments’ and ‘Shaping o�ers around the local market’.

For the �rst time in this series, the top priority for City Center hotels is to create special o�ers and packages to generate new bookings (42.5%), instead of implementing an enhanced cleaning program, 40.0% as in all previous editions. It’s worth mentioning that one of the biggest discrepancies between the 3 property segments is the importance of shaping o�ers around local market. B&Bs view this strategy as ‘very important’, yet to not as relevant to City Center Hotels.

Throughout the Hotelier PULSE Report series, the majority of Hoteliers have consistently believed that domestic leisure travel would be the biggest contributor to their recovery. This edition is no di�erent - 51,95% continue to believe this is the case. In June, we saw ‘International Leisure Travel’ surpass ‘Domestic Business Travel’ in ratings, and this trend has persisted in July. However, a trend that did not persist is the expected signi�cance of ‘International Business Travel’ for recovery.

Special cleaning program 1st Place

2nd Place

3rd Place Redesign sales and marketing strategy

Create special o�ers and packages

What is your number 1 priority in overcoming the Covid-19 crisis and preparing for the upturn?

City Center Hotels Bed&BreakfastResort Hotels

0

20

40

60

80

Special cleaning program to accommodate health & safety concerns

Create special o�ers and packages to generate new bookings

Redesign sales and marketing strategy

Shape o�ers and incentives around local market

Renegotiate distribution partnerships

O�er long-term vouchers for bookings

Up-skill workforce to meet tomorrow's demands



In the 4th Edition of the Hotelier Pulse Report, 16,7% of respondents said ‘International business Travel’ would be a major contributor. In this edition, the number dropped signi�cantly to less than half - only 5,2% of hoteliers said the same in June’s survey.

For the second time only, Hoteliers consider ‘International Travel’ as an initial recovery contributor, which happened for the �rst time in June’s Hotelier PULSE Report.

Although we saw the results become more balanced in June between international VS domestic and Leisure VS Business, this month’s results show a turnaround. Hoteliers are not feeling as con�dent regarding the importance of international travellers and business travellers as they were 1 month ago.

In this edition, 75.3% of Hoteliers believe Leisure will be the �rst contributor (vs 63.6% in the previous edition) and 71.4% claim that domestic travel will contribute the most to initial recovery. This trend may be a re�ection of the volatile situation regarding travel restrictions and con�nement measures. Times of uncertainty tend to impact international and business travelers more than domestic and leisure ones.

Last Month This Month

43.9% 19.7% 19.7% 16.7%

Domestic Leisure Travel

International Leisure TravelDomestic Business Travel

International Business Travel

51.9% 19.5% 23.4%

5.2%

When comparing the di�erent properties, the only signi�cant di�erence is regarding Domestic Business Travel, that is expected to be an important component of the recovery for City Center Hotels (30.0%), has some importance for B&Bs (13.4%) but is expected to be largely immaterial for Resorts (4.6%).

Domestic vs International Domestic International

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100

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Week of May 3

Week of June 1

Week of June 22

Week of July 27

Week of May 17

Week of May 3

Week of June 1

Week of June 22

Week of July 27

Week of May 17

Leisure vs Business Leisure Business

What segment do you think will be the first contributor to your recovery?


City Center Hotels

Resort Hotels

Bed & Breakfast

38.6%32.3% 32.3% 16.1% 19.4%

52.9% 11.8% 23.5% 11.8%

55.6% 22.2% 16.7%5.6%

Domestic Business Travel

International Business TravelDomestic Leisure Travel

International Leisure Travel

30.0% 42.5% 5.0% 22.5%

4.6%

13.4% 53.4% 5.7% 26.7%

4.6% 22.8%68.2%



4. Consumer Behaviour

As restrictions continue to ease, we are tracking the evolution of Hoteliers’ expectations regarding consumer behaviours and the impact on business. For the �rst time since launching The Hotelier PULSE Report, all 3 restrictions and concerns had a lower importance rating, which means Hoteliers are becoming more optimistic regarding these subjects. ‘Flight Capacity’ and Health and Safety continue to be classi�ed as ‘Extremely Important’, however, the expectation is trending downward for both of them in this edition. Health and safety concerns has been decreasing over time, showing that hotels are more con�dent that they have adequate measures in place.

Regarding the concern with tighter budgets, although it slightly decreased, it remains the most stable option and considered the least important out of the 3 since the 1st edition of PULSE. Although it registered very insigni�cant changes, it’s still considered very important by respondents.

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2

3

4

5

6

7

Week of May 3

Week of June 1

Week of June 22

Week of July 27

Week of May 17

Health & Safety

Flight Capacity

Tighter Budget

The expectation for 2020 revenue, when compared to 2019, has worsened since the June’s results. In July, 81.8% of Hoteliers said their hotel revenue would su�er a decline of over 50.0%, compared to 78.8% who believed this would be the case back in June’s survey. Furthermore, no respondents said the decline would be less than 20.0% in July, as opposed to results in the previous survey in June.

5. Sales and Marketing Long-Term Strategies

What is your expectation of total hotel revenue in 2020 when compared to 2019?

11.7%6.5%0.0%

Decline of more than 50%

Decline of 20%

Decline of 50%

Decline of 10%


81.8%15.2%3.0%3.0%

78.8%

2.5%As was the case with all the previous editions, City Center Hotel respondents predict a bigger decline in revenue when compared with 2019. Of City Center hotels featured in this report, 90.0% said their revenue decline would be more than 50.0%. Interestingly, although City Center Hotels expect to be the most impacted, 13.3% of Bed & Breakfasts expect to have a decline of just 20.0%.

City Center Hotels

Resort Hotels

Bed&Breakfast

90.0%

72.8%

73.3% 13.3% 13.3%

18.2% 9.1%

7.5%



We continued to ask Hoteliers to rate the expectations on whether ADR, marketing spend, and the level of importance in direct bookings will increase or decrease on a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 being the highest level. As opposed to the previous editions, we have detected a downward trend on all 3 topics. The importance of direct remains the most stable, with less oscillations since the 1st edition of PULSE.

The majority of our respondents believe Direct Bookings will increase in importance over the next 12 months, rating it 5.2 out of 7 (vs 5.3 in the last edition). Resorts and City Center Hotels are the reigning property segments that share this view, with 5.4 and 5.3 respectively. The importance of marketing spend that registered an upward trend since mid May, had a decline in this edition, from 4.6 in June to 4.2 in July. For City Center Hotels this is more important (4.3) than for Resorts (4.0) and B&Bs (4.2).Regarding the ADR, the trend in this edition remains the same as marketing spend. More respondents are now convinced that ADR will decrease. City Center Hotels continue to believe they will be most a�ected (2.4), in comparison to B&Bs (2.7) and Resorts (3.5).

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Week of May 3 Week of June 1 Week of June 15 Week of July 27Week of May 17

ADR

Direct Bookings

Marketing Spend

Hotel Website1st Place

2nd Place

3rd Place

4.

5.

Channel Manager

Online Ads

Meta-Search OTAs

Rich Media

Social Media

Hotel CRS

6.

7.

8.

9.

Hotel Bed Banks

Revenue Management

Corporate Sales

Tour Operators

10.

11.

Rate Shopping System

New Distribution Technology12.

13.

14.

15.

Joining a soft brand & Trade Shows

Sales Calls & Roadshows

Price Comparison Widgest w/ OTAs on site

GDS

16.

17.

We asked Hoteliers to rank by order of importance their Sales & Marketing Priorities to maximize sales

and pro�tability over the next 12 months.

These priorities are:

Sales & Marketing Priorities over the Next 12 Months

The item that was considered extremely im-portant by the majority of respondents was the Hotel Website. 62.3% of Hoteliers said that their Website is a top priority compared to other options for Sales & Marketing tools to maximize sales and pro�tability over the next year.

Social Media, the Hotel Central Reservation system, OTAs and Channel Manager are also high on the agenda of all the property types.

On the �ip-side, Sales Calls, Roadshows and Trade Shows are not considered important at all which is not surprising taking into account the social distancing era we’re living in and all the restrictions and regulations in place. GDS was also among the least important tools to generate more sales during the next 12 months.



Conclusions

As more hotels open their doors, we’re beginning to see a signi�cant shift in initial recovery priorities, with more Hoteliers now prioritizing the creation of special o�ers to tackle new markets. This indicates that more hotels have already implemented enhanced Health & Safety protocols, and are now ready to start tackling the summer months head-on!

There has also been a signi�cant adjustment to expectations regarding �nancial recovery, with a notable increase in hoteliers believing their business will recover to 2019 levels in 2 years, compared to last month’s edition where the majority of hoteliers surveyed believed their business would recover in 2021. Having said that, we look to see how August will play out in terms of occupancy, and whether hotels will meet or exceed the average expectation of over 36.0% occupancy.

About This Survey

For the 5th Edition of The Hotelier PULSE Report, we surveyed hundreds of key decision-makers at hotels. Group CEO’s/Property Owners represent the majority of our respondents at 29.9%, followed by General Managers at 27.3%. The remaining respondents include Sales Directors (20.8%), Revenue or E-Commerce Managers (15.6%), Front O�ce Managers (3.9%), and Marketing Managers (2.6%). The overwhelming majority of our respondents come from Europe (88.3%); followed by North America (5.2%), and South America and Africa - each at 2.6%. The ‘City Center Hotel’ segment is where most of our respondents come from at 52.0%, followed by Resorts (28.6%) and Bed & Breakfasts (19.5%).

Role

Property LocationsType of Property

Group CEO/Owner

General Manager

Sales Director

Revenue Manager

27.3%29.9%

20.8%15.6%

2.6%3.9%

Director/Mktg Manager

Front O�ce Manager

City Center Hotel

Bed & Breakfast

Resort

52.0%28.6%19.5% 88.3%

5.2%

2%2.6%

2.6%


The Hotelier Pulse Report

N.522.06.2020 / 27.08.2020

We will be emailing you and other hoteliers another round of questions next week or you can take our new survey directly .

So, if you would like to track the evolution of sentiment across the industry, be sure to take our poll. Please reach out if you have any questions.

You can share the survey with your peers on your social media pages:

here

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Documents

The N.5 Hotelier Pulse Report - GuestCentric · 2020. 10. 8. · Pulse Report Weeks: June 22, 2020 - July 27, 2020 Welcome to the 5th Edition of the Hotelier PULSE Report! In this