London hotels enjoy bumper summer
London hotels enjoyed their best summer for six years, while those in regional resorts also reaped the benefit of the hot weather.
Figures from hotel consultancy PKF showed average daily rates in the capital during August were £100.92, an increase of 8.1 per cent on last year, when hoteliers suffered cancellations following the July tube bombings. The rates were also the best since 2000.
“The continuing boom for London hotels is a welcome payback for weathering the wars, pestilences and terrorist threats of the last few years,” said PKF partner for hotel services Robert Barnard.
“The combination of London hoteliers’ resilience, resourcefulness and improving quality with better-than-anticipated growth is driving up demand in virtually every market segment.”
Meanwhile, hotels in leisure and culture destinations like Cardiff and Edinburgh had a good month on the back of a hot June and July, even though August itself was very wet.
However, major business cities such as Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds suffered the traditional seasonal dip and, overall, room rates in the regions rose 3.2 per cent to £66.17.
“The continuing good weather boosted the number of visitors to holiday destinations cities and resorts while the predominantly business destinations largely experienced seasonal downturns,” said Barnard.
“The underlying themes, though, are still those of innate market strength and a better product offering for the consumer.”
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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