Preliminary figures released by business advisory and accountancy firm BDO LLP show rising demand from a resurgent corporate sector helped UK hotel operators report another month of impressive growth in November.
London
In London, rooms yield rose to £116.01, a 6.5% increase on November 2012. This was driven by a 5.0% increase in room rate from £131.63 to £138.20, and a 1.4% improvement in occupancy to 84.0%, compared with 82.7% a year ago.
Regions
In the regions, rooms yield increased by 8.3% year-on-year from £41.11 to £44.52. This was the result of a 3.7% rise in room rate from £59.24 to £61.41, coupled with a 4.5% improvement in occupancy from 69.4% to 72.5%.
Strong run gathers momentum
Robert Barnard, partner at BDO LLP, said: “The hotel sector’s strong run continues to gather momentum.
“The data show that operators are successfully boosting occupancy without having to resort to discounting, which suggests that underlying demand is heading in the right direction. However, this demand is currently lop-sided.
“Hotels tend to rely on corporate occupiers during the autumn, and much of the recent recovery in operator performance has been driven by increasing business confidence and spending. The meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) market appears to be rebounding after a number of years in the doldrums.
Consumers, by contrast, are struggling with negative real wage growth and are playing a less prominent role in the sector’s recent upturn. Persuading cash strapped consumers to stay in hotels remains a challenge.”