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London room yields up 16.5% in first nine months
London hotels achieved record results in September while regional cities were helped by a return in business travellers following the summer holidays, according to new figures.
Average daily room yield in the capital was up more than a fifth (20.9%) on 2005 values to £108.94, according to PKF hotel consultancy services.
This was fuelled by a 9.2% increase in room rate from £114.10 in 2005 to £124.64 and a 10.7% increase in occupancy to 87.4% this September.
The performance for the ninth month running means that London hotels’ rooms yield is now 16.5% higher than it was a year ago, according to the report.
Regional performance across more than 600 hotels in the survey revealed consistently steady growth in September. The average room rate was up 3.4% to £73.22, occupancy up 1.9% to 80.8%, and daily room yield up 5.4% to £59.19.
But performance varied considerably across the country. With the summer holiday season largely over, visitors returned to major business cities such as Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool which recorded room yield increases of 12.3%, 13.0% and 5.2% respectively.
As the Festival Fringe extended into the first weekend of September, Edinburgh hotels were still 89% full and a 7.2% increase in 2005 room rates to £92.50 helped to boost rooms yield by 9.8% to £82.35, PFK said.
By contrast, Cardiff room rates fell by 6.6% on 2005 to £65.48 so, although there was only a marginal drop in occupancy, rooms yield fell by 7.3% to £50.53.
After a traditionally poor August, Birmingham hotels rallied slightly with the return of the business visitor but rooms yield was still more than 2% down on 2005 values.
PKF hotel consultancy services partner Robert Barnard said: “The continuing dramatic growth in the London hotel market is very heartening – although we should remember that London was still recovering from the impact of the bombings last September – and it’s clear that regional hotels are continuing to build on their solid performance to date this year.
“Providing that the economy stays reasonably buoyant to the end of the year – and barring any further terrorist scares or attacks – we can be reasonably confident that 2006 overall will go down as one of the best years ever for the hotel sector as a whole and London hotels in particular.”
Report by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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