Every ash cloud has a silver lining
While the rest of the industry woke up each morning in May dreading another day of volcanic ash cloud, hoteliers at Heathrow were secretly smiling.
According to the latest HotStats survey from TRI Hospitality Consulting, average room occupancy in the Heathrow hotel market increased by close to 10% in May to 82.7% as hoteliers in the area accommodated stranded travellers.
Following last month’s disruption, growth in average room rate at Heathrow hotels increased by 3.3% driving RevPAR growth of 16.8% (to £58.42).
Just up M4, however, things were also much improved, with profitability in London hotels up 10.7%,
The reason? Well, according to the British Retail
Consortium, it was all thanks to tourists from France, China and the Middle East who were taking advantage of the “weak pound and favourable weather”.
Presumably, then, by “favourable weather” they mean the ash cloud that was stopping all these shopaholic tourists from flying home and splashing their cash elsewhere?
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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