Barcelona hotels close the summer with record prices and 87% occupancy

The hotel dynamic in the city of Barcelona so far this year is very positive: there is demand and quality demand. This is confirmed by the figures provided by the Gremi d'Hotels when evaluating the summer campaign.

Since last May, when the city's hotel offer was at one hundred percent with its 450 establishments open, the number of visitors has grown progressively, reaching an average occupancy of 87% at the end of August, only one point below 2019 levels; although July and August were weaker. The occupancy registered in July was 88.6% ---2.3 points less than in 2019--- and 86% in August ---3.9 points less---.

What has been above the last year without covid affectation has been the price that the visitor has paid to stay overnight in the Catalan capital. The president of the Gremi, Jordi Clos, reported that the increase has been 15% and that it responds, in large part, to the improvement in the quality of the client who has visited Barcelona and that is in line with the good summer that the set of European destinations have had. Clos explained that the pandemic forced the city's hotels to cut prices by 40% and that this attracted a type of tourism to the city that is not the hoteliers' favorite.

However, the situation has straightened out in recent months. The maximum price was reached in June, when on average a room cost 190 euros, while, in July, on average, a room was paid at 177 euros ---21 more than in 2019--- and in August at 181 euros ---37 more than in 2019---.

However, the Gremi warns that the sector "is still in a complicated scenario" due to the increase in costs linked to inflationary tensions, the rise in energy costs ---in some cases with increases of 300%, according to Clos--- and "the covid bill", since many operators still "drag the consequences" of the financial measures they had to take due to the closure of establishments during the months of the pandemic and the halt of tourism for many more months, such as ICO credits.

"We have not yet returned to full normality," Clos assured, "because there are still affected markets, where control measures are being applied that vary" and the sector sees how "last-minute decisions are still maintained" so that reservations cannot be foreseen, even in the case of congress tourism.

However, the good occupancy figures for the summer will allow the sector, unlike the last two seasons, not to close the year with losses. "This year we are not going to lose money," said Clos, who detailed that until the end of the year there are about thirty important events and fairs planned that will contribute to the recovery of pre-pandemic figures. "It is necessary that we respond to demand and become increasingly competitive against other very powerful destinations," specified the representative of the Gremi, while asking that resources continue to be allocated to the promotion and projection of the city.

The good occupancy figures for the summer will allow the sector, unlike the last two seasons, to make a profit in 2022

In this sense, the hotel group insists on aspects such as the cleanliness of Barcelona's streets, the plagues of rats and beetles, and is critical of urban plans and works planned for the coming years, although the sector views the city's pacification process favorably.

For this reason, Jordi Clos has pointed out that "a city strategy agreed upon and scaled at the municipal, metropolitan and national level is necessary", with "dialogue with neighbors and private agents". The city is being planned at a time when, according to the president of the Gremi, "we are emerging from a catastrophic economic and labor situation" and dialogue and consensus are more necessary than ever.