The new reality: the capital’s hotel market is growing
2 April 12:49
In 2024, Kyiv’s hotel market is showing not just recovery but structural growth with clear signs of stabilizing demand and improving tariff discipline. This is stated in a study by the Hotel Matrix project, which deals with hotel analytics, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
For example, the occupancy rate of Kyiv hotels increased last year to 42% compared to 30% in 2023.
What is happening in the capital’s hotel market
According to researchers, competition is intensifying – the market is active, and the struggle for guests will be even more interesting in 2025.
“If 2023 can be called the year of adaptation for Kyiv hotels, then 2024 is already a stable growth. The Kyiv hotel market is demonstrating strong positive dynamics, and these are not just numbers, but a real indicator of changing market trends. Demand is not just returning, it is transforming. Business tourism, the event segment, and long-term guests formed a new customer structure in 2024,” the Hotel Matrix project experts say.
What are the key performance indicators?
Experts support their conclusions about the positive dynamics in the hotel market with specific hotel performance indicators:
1. Occupancy is the first of the three key KPIs of a hotel, which shows the percentage of rooms sold in relation to those available for sale for a certain period. In 2024, it amounted to 42%, compared to 30% in 2023, i.e., plus 12%.
2. ADR (average daily rate) is another important indicator that provides information about the pricing policy applied by the hotel. In 2024, it reached 2520 UAH, compared to 1987 UAH in 2023, plus 27%.
3. RevPAR (revenue per available room) is one of the most common financial indicators that helps to assess how effective a hotel is. Last year, this income amounted to UAH 1048, compared to UAH 543 in 2023, i.e., plus 93%.
What do the following indicators tell experts
The growth of Occupancy with a simultaneous increase in ADR (average daily rate) is a signal not only of a recovery in demand, but also of competent management of segments and sales channels.
And the fact that the average daily rate increased from UAH 1087 to UAH 2500 with an occupancy rate of 42% is the result of effective pricing management.
What is known about the Hotel Matrix project
Hotel Matrix is an online tool for analyzing the hotel business developed by experts from Poland and Ukraine. It allows you to analyze the market, compare the performance of a particular hotel with that of competitors, and, based on the data obtained, determine the development strategy for the hotel in question. In other words, the service’s data helps hoteliers understand how efficiently their hotel is operating.
Hotel Matrix was founded by three Ukrainian investors involved in the hotel business. The project was launched in May 2020, and currently 200 hotels are connected to it.
What is happening to the Ukrainian hotel industry
According to the Ukrainian Hotel Market Review 2024, presented by Ribas Hotels Group, despite the negative impact caused by the hostilities, the number of hotels (plus 9.1%), motels (plus 10.7%), and hostels (plus 28.7%) grew in dynamics.
Significant growth is also observed in the segment of hotels managed by national operators such as Ribas Hotels and Optima Hotels, particularly in Bukovel, Lviv, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky and other regions. Optima Hotels (64 hotels), Ribas Hotels (21 hotels), and Premier Hotels and Resorts (11 hotels) are the leaders in terms of the number of hotels in Ukraine.
The war has forced some Ukrainian hotel chains to expand their operations to international markets. For example, Reikartz is developing in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Georgia, Premier Hotels is opening properties in Hungary, and Ribas Hotels is developing projects in Indonesia (Bali), Poland, and Moldova.
According to the State Agency for Tourism Development, Ukraine’s tourism industry continues to recover, in part due to the growth of domestic tourism and the gradual return of foreign visitors, including government delegations, international companies, and volunteer organizations.
In mid-2024, the occupancy rate in Ukraine stabilized at 34-38%, and in some popular regions it exceeded 60-70% (Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zakarpattia regions), which is comparable to the rates of the world’s leading tourism centers.
The tourism sector is actively replenishing the country’s budget
According to the State Agency for Tourism Development, last year the tourism industry paid UAH 2 billion 938 million in taxes to the budget. In 2023, this amount amounted to UAH 2 billion 49 million.
The largest share of revenues to the state budget last year – 66.5% – was paid by hotels – UAH 1 billion 954 million. This amount is significantly higher than the amount paid to the budget by the hotel industry in 2023 (UAH 1 billion 304 thousand) and higher than the amount paid by hotels in 2021 (UAH 1 billion 289 million).
Tax revenues from tour operators in 2024 also increased compared to 2023 – UAH 304.7 million against UAH 205.8 million. In 2021, the amount of revenues from this type of activity amounted to UAH 259 million.
