Jarvis hit by falling room rates

Falling average room rates have taken a £1m chunk out of turnover at Jarvis Hotels, the group announced this week.

In the six months to 12 October, turnover at Jarvis fell by 1% to £89.3m, compared with £90.2m for the same period in 2001. Jarvis said a 2.7% drop in average room rate to £52.29 caused the fall. It added that average room rates were lower because of reduced levels of corporate occupancy and a greater dependence on leisure business.

Turnover on hotel rooms sold to leisure guests increased by 12.1%. Occupancy across the group dropped by 0.2 percentage points to 70%, and revenue per available room fell 3% to £36.59.

The group said it had seen a steady improvement in its regional hotels over the past six months and that they were now performing better than last year.

London continued to perform at a slightly lower level, Jarvis said, but this was still a "major improvement on the position earlier in the year".

Pre-tax profit at the group fell by 16% during the period to £10.1m, compared with £12m a year earlier.