Profit levels plummet at York hotels in wake of flooding
Profit per room at hotels in York plunged by 41.5% in the first two months of 2016, as a result of the floods which ravaged the city in December.
However, while York was one of the worst impacted areas to be hit by the floods across northern England and Scotland, the new figures from HotStats reveal that occupancy levels in the city have been on the decline for the past year, falling by 6.1 percentage points to 76.6% in the 12 months to February 2016, from 82.7% in year to February 2015.
Hotels recorded a 1.3% increase in revenue per available room in February, while total revenue (including food, beverage, conference and banqueting) dropped by 1.1%. Increasing costs exacerbated what has been a difficult time for York hoteliers, with payroll increasing by 6.6%, sales and marketing by 17.1% and property and maintenance by 23.8%, as repairs to flood-damaged hotels continued.
The HotStats figures echo those published by STR Global Data, which showed that revenue in January across York hotels dropped by £1m, with a further drop of £300,000 recorded in February.
The dire figures led the chief executive of Best Western Great Britain, Rob Payne, to call on the Prime Minister to take a family holiday in York.
Call for prime minister to do more as flood-hit York hotels report £1.3m revenue slump >>
