Rooms in Russian hotels have risen in price by 14-20%

Russian hoteliers are finishing 2023 with strong financial performance. Thanks to the growth of domestic tourism and the first signs of restoration of tourist flow from abroad after the introduction of electronic visas for foreigners by the Russian Federation, the cost of accommodation in hotels in the country increased by 14–20%. Experts also note an increase in the occupancy of facilities, although during a crisis the opposite is usually the case. The flow of guests is ensured not only by tourists, but also by business travelers – business trips are gradually recovering, increasing by 19% year on year.

The average cost of bookings in Russian hotels in 2023 was 6.9 thousand rubles. overnight, an increase of 14.4%, according to Travelline. In particular, prices in hotels without stars (up to 5 thousand rubles) and three-star hotels (up to 5.8 thousand rubles) increased by 12%. Accommodation in a five-star hotel increased in price by 8.2%, to 14.9 thousand rubles. per night. Data from Ostrovok.ru indicate an average increase of 15%, to 5.1 thousand rubles, and Yandex Travel notes an increase in prices by 20%, to 5.5 thousand rubles.

“This is due to both the general increase in inflation and the increased demand for domestic tourism, due to which hotel occupancy for the year increased by 5-15% depending on the regions and the quality of hotels,” explains a senior consultant in the department of the hospitality industry division of CORE. XP Ksenia Nepomnyashchikh. According to Rosstat, in January-October 2023 alone, a total of 66.3 million people stayed in hotels in the country, which is 19% more year-on-year.

Travel within the country and business tourists have increased. The number of hotel bookings from business, according to Aeroclub, increased by 19% over the year, and their average price increased by 10%, to 5 thousand rubles. per night. The company especially draws attention to the fact that the cost of living in hotels in the country has increased, despite the abolition of VAT for the hotel business.

Ostrovok.ru says that hotel services have increased in price the most in Novosibirsk (by 26%, up to 4.4 thousand rubles per night), Yekaterinburg (by 21%, up to 4.7 thousand rubles) and Voronezh (by 20%, up to 4.7 thousand rubles). By 21%, up to 6.8 thousand rubles. per day, the cost of living in hotels in Sochi and Kazan increased by 17.5%, to 5.7 thousand rubles, they add to Yandex Travel.

NF Group partner Olga Shirokova says that in Moscow the average tariff in quality hotels over the year increased by 22%, to 7 thousand rubles, in St. Petersburg – by 15%, to 6 thousand rubles, and the level of average annual occupancy of facilities in these cities rose to 74% and 65% respectively, which is quite high for this market. Cosmos Hotel Group notes that the network occupancy on average this year was about 70%, increasing in some regions by more than 10 percentage points.

Experts note that in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the most pronounced increase in occupancy was demonstrated by five-star hotels, which in previous crises, on the contrary, faced difficulties with the influx of guests. Olga Shirokova explains this not only by the growth of domestic tourism, but also by the flow of foreign tourists to Russia that began to recover this year. From August 2023, they can enter the country using electronic visas.

The increase in tariffs with an increase in occupancy, according to Ksenia Nepomnyashchikh, had a positive impact on the profitability of hoteliers. “But due to the closure of some airports in the south of the country (during the fighting in Ukraine.— “Kommersant”) and restrictions on foreign travel, demand has shifted dramatically. Therefore, hotels in some regions show sharp growth, while in others the indicators cannot reach pre-crisis levels,” says Roman Yeremyan, deputy chairman of the Union of Tourism and Hospitality.

Ksenia Nepomnyashchikh expects that the growth in the cost of hotel services will continue in 2024: “In many segments, demand is far ahead of supply; the situation can be balanced by the introduction of new properties to the market in three to five years.” Cosmos Hotel Group also expects an increase in operating indicators next year, although it does not exclude that the increased key rate of the Central Bank and the continued volatility of the ruble may have a negative effect on the hotel market as a whole.

Alexandra Mertsalova