London hotels on track for double digit growth

London Hotels are on track to achieve double-digit growth for 2010, while the regional sector recorded modest results for the first two quarters.​
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Business advisory firm Deloitte reports that London hotels saw revPAR rise 9.3 per cent during the first half of 2010 to £102. 

Average room rates in London hotels were the key driver to growth with a 7 per cent increase to £129 recorded, while occupancy rose 2.1 per cent to 78.9 per cent.

Marvin Rust, hospitality managing partner at Deloitte, said: “These results are great news for hoteliers in the capital as they continue to build on the double-digit growth reported in Q1 2010.

“London’s hoteliers remain resilient and are implementing the right pricing strategies to fast track the recovery process.”

Regional hotels​
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In the regions, revPAR grew 1.7 per cent to £43 for the first two quarters, falling short of recent STR Global forecasts that predicted a 5.3 per cent rise by the end of 2010. 

Regional hotels’ average room rates however are still yet to see growth, falling 2.3 per cent to £66 compared with £68 for the same period in 2009. 

Prior to 2010, the sector recorded seven consecutive quarters of decline, but in 2010 Q2 followed Q1 in achieving occupancy growth, with results for the first half rising  4.2 per cent to 65.8 per cent, which according to Deloitte signalled 'the start of the recovery’. 

Rust said: “It is still early days in the recovery cycle and with the regions more susceptible to national influences than the London market, the effects of fiscal tightening and government spending cuts remain hard to predict at this time.”