London hotels report healthy occupancy increase

Figures released by PKF Hotel Consultancy Services revealed a 1.7 per cent increase in occupancy for hotels based in London compared to July 2008, although both room rate and rooms yield decreased by 11.1 per cent to £118.11 and 9.6 per cent to £117.10 respectively.

Hotels situated in the rest of the country however saw a 4.3 per cent decline in occupancy from 77.7 per cent last year to 74.4 per cent, coupled with further drops in room rate and room yield.

Robert Barnard, partner for Hotel Consultancy Services at PKF, said London’s increased occupancy rate was ‘healthy’ and encouraging. “The strength of the Euro is likely to be one of the reasons behind this,” he said. “Room rates are still struggling, but this is not surprising given the current climate. In the regions, although results overall were down, individual cities that made impressive gains are a positive sign.”

Edinburgh and Cardiff both achieved growth in July this year, possibly due to the first Ashes test and Highland Games, although room rates did drop.