British hotel industry on its way up
Business is buoyant for the British hotel industry, according to the Hotel Britain report released yesterday.
It revealed that revenue per available room (revpar) was up 10.1% to £56.64 for the whole of the UK. This increase was higher in London, up 11.8% to £79.54.
The Gatwick area saw the biggest increase in revpar, with a rise of 13.8%, followed by Sheffield (up 10.2%) and Reading (up 9.7%).
Occupancy improved in London, rising 2.8 percentage points to 76.3%. Regional occupancy saw a slight improvment, up 1.3 percentage points to 71.4 %.
Heathrow and Slough reported the strongest occupancy growth, up 5.9 percentage points.
Robert Barnard, partner and head of hotel consultancy services at PKF said: "It looks like the worst is over for the UK hotel industry. Trading performances of both London and regional UK hotels are finally getting back to levels last seen five years ago."
Hotel Britain looks at the domestic market and is compiled by hotel consultancy service, PKF. This is its second annual report.
By Victoria Heath
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