Starwood overcomes flat Dubai performance in Q3

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide posted solid growth in the third quarter of 2014 in the Middle East & Africa, with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi highlighted for their strong performances.

Across the region, RevPAR increased by 4.7% in constant dollars (4.3% in actual dollars) during the period to US $95.26. ADR was down 4.9% in actual dollars to US $168.70, while occupancy rose 5 percentage points to 56.5%.

Speaking during an earnings call, Starwood CEO and president Frits van Paasschen said: “Looking to Africa and the Middle East, RevPAR was up almost 5%.

“Performance in the Middle East was in line with the past few quarters with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, all performing well. Dubai was flat, as that market has seen quite a bit of new hotel capacity.

“Egypt was the bright spot in Africa. It's only because of last year's unrest. Excluding Egypt, Africa overall was down. As you might expect, Ebola played a role in Nigeria with RevPAR at our hotels there down over 25%."

Worldwide, RevPAR increased by 7.4% in constant dollars (7.5% in actual dollars) to US $129.09, ADR was up 3.4% to US $177.15 and occupancy rose 2.8 percentage points to 72.9%.

Income from continuing operations was US $109 million in the third quarter of 2014, compared to US $157 million in the third quarter of 2013.