London occupancy lowest for nine years

London's hotels had their worst June since 1993, says the latest survey from consultant PKF.

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According to the study, occupancy in the capital fell by 6.2% in June to 78%, compared with 83.1% for in June 2001.

Average room rate was down by 11.7% to £109.28, from £123.77 in 2001, and revenue per available room (revpar) fell by 17.2% to £85.25, compared with £102.95 a year earlier.

The country's regional hotels also had a tough June. Occupancy dropped by 4.4% to 70.8%, room rates dipped by 3.4% to £63.52, against £65.78 a year earlier, and revpar was down by 7.7% to £44.97, compared with £48.72 in 2001.

Melvin Gold, managing director of hotel consultancy services for PKF, said: "June trading was untypical due to the extra bank holidays but the market is still relatively weak and business is harder to come by for most hotels."

He added: "Overall, we still see a trend towards slow improvement but more weaknesses are evident and the pace of growth is far slower than we expected."