KYIV – Kyiv’s hotel industry has bounced back strongly, with revenue per available room growing by 20% last year. This was Europe’s third highest growth rate, lower only than Bucharest at 21% and Lisbon at 22%.

This industry x-ray comes from Dennis Spitra, director of business development Europe at STR Global Ltd., a company that tracks 10,100 hotels in Europe.

Kyiv’s hotel occupancy rate grew 13.7% last year, trailing only Brussels, Belgrade and Istanbul, Spitra said, speaking at the International Hospitality Conference at the InterContinental Kyiv hotel.

Hotel occupancies are back to pre-crisis levels, but STR's Spitra did not assess the impact of Airbnb on the central Kyiv lodging market. (UBJ Editor)

Moving Beyond Recovery

“In 2017, Kyiv’s recovery phased out, but occupancy was still growing, year over year,” Spitra, a German, said. He said Kyiv’s occupancy rate, 50.9%, was back to the pre-crisis level of 2013.

Although, Kyiv has the lowest occupancy rate of major European cities measured by Spitra, he said Kyiv’s average room rate – EUR89 – inched up to Europe’s average.

Revenue growth tells a split story, he said.

At ‘independent’ hotels, revenue per available room was up only 8% last year. At the ‘branded,’ or international chain hotels, revenue was up 23%.

With revenue up, hotel chains are opening hundreds of new hotel rooms in Kyiv.

Last fall, Carlson Rezidor opened a Park Inn, near Olympic Stadium, and AccorHotels opened Mercure Kyiv Congress near the Cosmopolite shopping center. In coming days, Accor is to open Ibis Kyiv Railway Station, near the west entrance to the central rail station. On May 1, Marriott is to open an Aloft hotel next to Gulliver Business Center.

Marriott’s new Aloft hotel will be located on Baseina Street, between Kyiv’s two largest Class A business centers: 35-story Gulliver Business Center and 34-story Parus Business Center, rising in the background. (UBJ Editor)

Slider: Planet of the Apes in Kyiv? No, a mural of a vyshyvanka-clad smartphone wielding simian will greet visitors to Marriot’s new Aloft hotel, scheduled for May 1 opening. (UBJ Editor)

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Posted Feb. 17, 2017