UK hotels performed healthily in May with London showing particularly strong growth.
According to PKF Hotel Consultancy Services’ figures for last month, room yields in the capital showed a double digit growth for the second consecutive month.
The yields rose by 16.5% to £118.24, driven mainly by a 14.8% increase in room rate to £138.50 alongside a 1.5% rise in occupancy to 85.4%.
All classes of hotels in the capital showed an increase in rooms yield, with the luxury hotel segment the most buoyant.
Meanwhile, hotels around the rest of the UK reported a 1.3% increase in rooms yield to £45.02. This was the result of a 2.1% increase in occupancy to 74.0%, which offset a 0.8% decline in room rate to £60.85.
PKF says hotels in Cardiff, Edinburgh and Manchester performed the most successfully, posting rooms yield growth of 17.8%, 10.1% and 8.9% respectively.
PKF partner Robert Barnard said: “This is the most positive set of results so far this year, particularly for London. Hotels in the capital have seen rooms yield rise sharply for the second month in a row and the fact that all hotel classes, from basic tourist accommodation through to high end deluxe operations posted strong results demonstrates the resilience of London as a hotel destination.
“That said, hoteliers should avoid cracking open the champagne just yet. Significant challenges remain – particularly for operators outside London that are reliant on the challenging MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) and corporate markets – and skilful revenue management will be required to ensure that this nascent recovery isn’t snuffed out in the coming months.”
