Provincial hotels flourish while London suffers

Average room rates in UK provincial hotels rose during July for the fourth month running, confounding gloomy predictions about the impact of foot-and-mouth on forward bookings, says a survey from consultancy PKF.

In London, by contrast, the effects of the US recession kicked in, sending room rates and revenues plummeting.

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Gold: heartening figures

The survey of 377 UK regional hotels found average room rate rose by 2.8% to £66.34 while revenue per available room was up by 1.7% at £50.70. Occupancy was down by 1% from to 76.4%, compared with 77.2% during July 2000. PKF consultant Robert Barnard said the regional figures reflected a buoyancy in business travel and continuing confidence in the domestic economy. But the picture in the capital was very different. Average room rate plunged by 12.2% to £118.45 and revenue per available room fell by 17.2% to £98.36. The figures show that although London hoteliers have slashed room prices they have only managed to slow a downward trend in occupancy. At 107 London hotels PKF found occupancy fell by 5.8%, from 88.1% in July 2000 to 83% last month. The fall in occupancy was smaller than in June (-6.3%) or May (-9.7%). Managing director of hotel consultancy at PKF, Melvin Gold, said: "Whilst the London figures are no surprise given the deepening of the US recession, it is very heartening that the rest of the UK hotel market appears to be confounding the 'doom and gloom' forecasts for summer bookings. "Perhaps the combination of the heatwave and the interest rate cut persuaded people to make hay while the sun shone in the UK rather than braving the coach drivers' strike in Ibiza or the 40ºC heat in the western Mediterranean." >