Peninsula HK occupancy drops

The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, which operates The Peninsula Hotels, saw half-year underlying profits drop 42.6 percent to HK$152 million, which it blamed on the earnings disruption from the partial closures of The Peninsula hotel in Beijing and Chicago for extensive renovations.

Net profit slumped 58 percent to HK$198 million, while revenue slightly drop 3.3 percent to HK$2.6 billion.

The Peninsula Hong Kong recorded a 5 percent decrease in revenue for the first half year to HK$617 million, mainly due to a drop-off in tourism to the city. But it still generated the most among all the Peninsula hotels, or nearly quarter of the total revenue.

Occupancy in the second quarter dropped 4 percentage points to 65 percent, while average room rate almost remained flat at HK$4,548.