CDL Hospitality Trust disappoints locally but thrives overseas

Haze, both literal and figurative, plagues the firm.

Singapore continues its struggle with far away fires, and the hospitality sector remains at the tail end of the fiasco. The haze has drastically dampened travel to the city-state, leaving new hotel supply empty for days on end.

According to analysts from RHB Research, CDL Hospitality Trust mirrors this struggle, as its Singapore portfolio proved to be challenging once again, with RevPAR down bv 5.7% yoy. Due to slower economic growth, room rates within its portfolio suffered a 3.8% drop yoy.

“Given that the factors above are expected to persist in the near term, we retain our pessimistic view on Singapore’s hospitality sector,” RHB Research said.

Meanwhile, its Japanese operations are a different story.

“Japanese hotels were the only performing asset in CDLHT’s portfolio,” RHB Research said.

While CDL’s assets in Australia, New Zealand and the Maldives were unspared by the weaker global economic environment, the trust’s Japanese assets registered notable growth.

“Japanese assets registered RevPAR growth of c.21% YoY. This was on foreign visitor arrivals to Japan growing c.49% YTD to 14.5m,” RHB Research said.