28 May 2009

UK regional hotels suffer over Easter

Regional hotels saw room rates and occupancy fall over the Easter period, according to the latest figures from PKF Hotel Consultancy Services.

Room rate fell by 11.2% from Ã&#pound;78.17 in April 2008 to Ã&#pound;69.43,while occupancy was down 13.6% to 63.9%.

Rooms yield plunged 23.2% to Ã&#pound;44.40. The year to date fall in yield has now fallen 15.6% from Ã&#pound;51.93 in 2008 to Ã&#pound;43.85.

Birmingham hoteliers suffered a 20% drop in occupancy and 15% reduction in room rate which resulted in rooms yield falling by almost a third (32.1%) to Ã&#pound;42.72.

Leeds fared almost as badly with the combination of a 24% drop in occupancy and a 9% fall in room rate causing a 30.8% plunge in yield to Ã&#pound;40.45 from Ã&#pound;58.46 the previous April.

Liverpool rooms yield also fell sharply by 28.6% to Ã&#pound;59.55 while Manchester rooms yield dropped 21.7% to Ã&#pound;55.77.

However, Edinburgh saw a 6% increase in occupancy to 77.2% which was achieved at the expense of only a 6.1% drop in room rate from Ã&#pound;85.64 to Ã&#pound;80.46.

In London, average room occupancy was 82.5%, up 0.9% on April 2008, but room rate fell 10.6% to Ã&#pound;123.85 dragging rooms yield down by 9.7% to Ã&#pound;102.11.

PKF believes room occupancy was retained through the extensive use of leisure discounting deals to attract visitors into the capital over Easter.

Partner Robert Barnard said: Ã¢â¬ÅâœWhile the buoyant occupancy figures for London are indicative of the capitalÃ¢â¬â¢s resilience to virtually every kind of economic, political, biological and climatic turbulence, hoteliers are clearly sacrificing margin in order to fill their beds.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœThe longer the recession continues, the more it will eat into these margins and the harder it will be for hotels to survive.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœThe worsening scenario in the UKÃ¢â¬â¢s major cities must be of serious concern to the hotel industry as a 30% drop in yield clearly cannot be sustained over a long period of time.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœIt is too soon to say how much the April Easter is responsible for the dire results but we can only hope that the glimmerings of more positive economic news among the gloomy headlines will result in a better second half of the year.Ã¢â¬~

By Bev Fearis