Hotel industry performance reporting to be ‘revolutionised’

PKF hotel consultancy services and hotel industry online information service The Bench have forged a strategic alliance.

They claim the deal will “revolutionise” the reporting of the UK hotel’s industry performance.

PKF has decided to upgrade its monthly statistics system to The Bench platform, giving subscribers access to daily, next day data. As a result subscribers will be able to track midweek/weekend occupancy and rates, and benchmark their performance seven days a week.

The hotel consultancy firm will also produce an enhanced monthly bulletin from early 2006, aimed at providing a more accurate and insightful analysis into the current state of the hotel industry. Around 1,200 hotels will be included in the review of performance statistics, including daily average occupancy, room rate and rooms yield.

PKF has been producing monthly reports on the London and regional market since the early 1970s by analysing the views and performance of key industry players such as Hilton, InterContinental, Millennium & Copthorne, Thistle and other well-known brands. The Bench (www.thebench.com) has provided online statistics for the hotel industry on a daily basis since its launch four years ago.

PKF partner and head of hotel consultancy services Robert Barnard said: “The Bench will combine its substantial database with ours and we will use our in-depth knowledge and experience to analyse the performance of hoteliers each month.

“The resulting reports will be more comprehensive than anything previously published and will be available online faster than ever before – just a few days after the month end.

“Hoteliers will find it extremely useful for seeing how they rank against average industry standards and investors, commentators and even consumers will benefit from the insights the reports will give on what’s happening right now.”

The Bench managing director Jamie Chappell said: “We believe this partnering of The Bench’s cutting edge technology and PKF’s long established expert analysis will prove a winning combination. This strategic alliance will keep the UK’s hoteliers up to date by combining our market leading statistical data with PKF’s authoritative and incisive commentary.

“The new service will offer unparalleled information and complements the basic daily tracking service already on offer.”

Report by Phil Davies