Figures from PKF show that hotels in the regions as well as the capital suffered due to this year’s early Easter, backing up the findings outlined in a recent report by Andersen.
According to PKF while occupancy rates held up reasonably well – falling by 2.7% in the regions and 4% in London, room rates weakened by 4.3% and 13.5% respectively due to the changed business pattern around the Easter period.
The capital’s reliance on the domestic market was increasingly apparent in March, as it was the only segment to rise in significance against the same period last year – by 23.0%. The European market also provided some encouragement, remaining static year-on-year as a proportion of the total.
Melvin Gold, Managing Director of Hotel Consultancy Services at PKF, said: “Business is down as expected due to the occurrence of Easter in March. Our figures are biased towards business orientated and branded hotels and the seasonality of the business market means hotels are more reliant on a lower priced segment around Easter.”
Mr Gold pointed out that the early Easter period makes it difficult to evaluate to what extent hotels in the UK are recovering from the downturn seen immediately after the September 11 attacks. He said: “Effectively, the figures mask the post September 11 recovery trend that we have been monitoring closely. Hoteliers and industry watchers will take little comfort from these figures, despite the Easter period, and the jury remains out in terms of the overall prognosis.”
Preliminary Data for March 2002
|
Rooms Department |
2002 |
2001 |
% change |
|
UK Regional Hotels (541) |
|
|
|
|
Average daily room rate per occupied room |
£60.27 |
£62.99 |
-4.3 |
|
Average daily room occupancy |
67.7 |
69.6 |
-2.7 |
|
Average daily rooms yield per available room |
£40.81 |
£43.84 |
-6.9 |
|
London Hotels (126) |
|
|
|
|
Average daily room rate per occupied room |
£101.96 |
£117.83 |
-13.5 |
|
Average daily room occupancy |
74.5 |
77.5 |
-4.0 |
|
Average daily rooms yield per available room |
£75.94 |
£91.35 |
-16.9 |
