September figures bring good news for London hotels

London hotels boosted their revenue per available room (revpar) in September for the first time since the 7 July bomb attacks, according to four industry reports.

Although the studies pitch the industry's recovery at different levels, the general upturn in business is good news for the capital's hoteliers.

The biggest recovery was reported by The Bench, which found London hotels had increased year-on-year revpar by 3.7% in September to £105. This marked an improvement on August's dramatic fall to £74, but still fell short of June's £109.

Occupancy levels in September fell by three percentage-points to 82%, but this was offset by a 6.3% surge in average room rate to £127.

The latest HotelBenchmark figures from Deloitte show that top-end hotels in London recovered fastest with revpar increasing by 6%. However, outside the capital, properties at Gatwick airport saw the greatest improvement in revpar, leaping by 12% to £76.

Average revpar in the capital was unchanged year-on-year at £87, but was up on August's £64.

Figures from PKF and TRI Hospitality Consulting point to more modest recoveries.

According to PKF, revpar rose by just 0.3% to £88.39 in September following a 10.2% drop in August to £66.58. Although occupancy dropped by three percentage points to 79.6%, average room rates rallied by 4.2% to £110.99.

TRI recorded a 0.4% increase in revpar to £77.42 compared with drops to £73.89 in July and £57.77 in August. A 6.1% rise in average room rate to £95.58 counteracted a 4.6 percentage-point drop in occupancy to 81%.

By Angela Frewin

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