Provincial occupancy rates fall as UK adds bedrooms
13 July 2000
Occupancy rates at provincial UK hotels fell from an average of 62% in 1998 to 59% last year.
London hotels retained an average annual occupancy of more than 80%, while the average occupancy for B&Bs increased from 46% in 1998 to 47% last year.
Those were among the findings of a Barclays report entitled Hotels and Catering Review launched at the Joint Hospitality Industry Congress conference last week.
According to the report, 3,400 bedrooms were added to the UK hotel market last year. Almost 100 budget hotels opened in 1999 and the average budget hotel increased in size from 37 bedrooms in 1992 to 59 bedrooms.
The number of budget hotels is predicted to grow from nearly 700 at the end of last year to as many as 1,300 by 2003.
