UK: The latest Savills/ASAP sentiment survey has revealed that 80 per cent of respondents expect occupancy to recover fully by end of 2022, pointing to a recovery in the next eight months.
More than half (57.7 per cent) are already reporting occupancy at pre-Covid (2019) levels.
The survey, conducted in February, found that 84.6 per cent of respondents are ‘slightly or significantly more optimistic’ about their business prospects compared to the last survey, up from 81 per cent in June 2021.
ESG credentials are playing a growing role in attracting customers with 42.3 per cent of respondents stating that the ESG credentials of their business were ‘very’ to ‘extremely’ important in driving consumer demand. This was reflected in responses around future expansion, as 61.5 per cent of operators said the energy efficiency of a building will be ‘very’ to ‘extremely’ important when acquiring new property in the future.
While operators remain positive in outlook, staffing costs (65.4 per cent) and availability (57.7 per cent), the risk of international travel restrictions (61.5 per cent) and energy costs (53.8 per cent) were all cited as a ‘slight’ or ‘significant’ challenge the sector will face over the next three years.
Marie Hickey, director in the commercial research team at Savills, said: “Serviced apartments have been the better performing segment of the wider hospitality market due to their typically leaner operating model and self-contained accommodation, enabling resilience through some of the recent challenges. Operational performance is recovering at pace, outperforming hotels in some markets, and our recent survey shows that operators expect occupancy to recover this year with many already reporting occupancy rates at pre-Covid levels. Looking to the future it is clear ESG is going to play an important role in shaping guest demand, particularly amongst corporates, and investor decisions.”
James Foice, CEO of ASAP, added: “Our members have been telling us for some time that they’re feeling increasingly optimistic about the coming months and years, as restrictions ease and both business and leisure guests return to travel. So to see this reflected across the sector is very heartening. It’s also interesting to see our own guiding pillars of people, planet and principles are so important to operators and travellers. The post-pandemic landscape offers a wonderful opportunity to put sustainable practices front and centre as the sector continues to expand.”
