There are busy months in the hotel game, and then there’s the sort of October Abu Dhabi has just chalked up, the kind that leaves general managers smiling like they’ve personally solved the global tourism equation.
Fresh figures from CoStar, the global real estate analytics outfit trusted by hoteliers worldwide, show the UAE capital posting its highest October occupancy since 2008. And for anyone familiar with Abu Dhabi’s calendar, the culprit is hardly a mystery. Showdown Week, the city’s annual collision of UFC muscle, pop-up entertainment and roaming crowds in branded T-shirts, delivered another knockout blow to hotel availability.
Occupancy averaged 86.2%, edging up modestly on last year, though the real story sits in the room rates. Hoteliers, who are rarely shy about charging what the market will bear, pushed the average daily rate to just over AED809, a rise of more than 18%. That flowed straight through to RevPAR, which climbed by more than 20%, marking the city’s strongest October performance since 2009.
If you were hunting for a room on 28 October, you were almost certainly out of luck. CoStar reports occupancy hit 95% that night, the sort of number that reminds long-timers of the pre-GFC boom years. Across the month, the city slipped below 80% occupancy on only three nights, a rarity in a post-pandemic market still finding its rhythm elsewhere in the world.
The weekend didn’t disappoint either. As fans poured in for headline bouts and stadium-scale events, the ADR peaked at AED987 on 25 October, while RevPAR topped AED925 four days later, both the highest readings since February.
While Showdown Week hogs plenty of the credit, the broader picture is one of a city that has learned to anchor its tourism economy around major events. Abu Dhabi’s hospitality sector no longer relies on sporadic surges; it builds them deliberately, packages them neatly and welcomes the world with room keys at the ready.
For hoteliers, the message is simple: when Abu Dhabi puts on a show, the beds don’t stay empty.
CoStar’s full findings can be explored at costargroup.com, but the headline takeaway is clear enough: the UAE capital has rediscovered the art of a full house.
By Sandra Jones – (c) 2025
Read Time: 2 minutes.
About the Writer
Sandra has spent much of her working life untangling the world for others, one itinerary, one dream, one frazzled traveller at a time. With years spent in some of Australia’s best-known travel agencies, she’s the calm voice on the line when flights go missing, luggage takes its own holiday, or someone decides to “see Europe properly” in nine days.
A qualified travel consultant with a knack for making sense of chaos, Sandra fine-tuned her skills through a specialised advisory course, the sort that teaches both knowledge and patience in equal measure. But the storyteller in her was never far away. A later foray into writing gave her the perfect excuse to blend that industry wisdom with her gift for words.
Now, through Global Travel Media, Sandra shares the small truths of travel, its frustrations, laughter, and quiet moments that make every journey worth the fuss.
