UK hotels still to catch up with pre-recession performance

Hotels operating in Britain’s tourist destinations saw a successful August, although performance still languished behind pre-recession levels.​

According to the latest HotStats report from TRI Hospitality Consulting, hotels situated in leisure-driven destinations benefited from the staycation trend this summer, while those reliant on commercial business saw a drop in trade.

As over half of visitors staying in Bath during August were visiting for leisure, hotels in the area saw a 6 per cent rise in Gross Operating Profit per Available Room (GOPPAR) to £48.92.

However, hotels in Manchester, of which just 24 per cent attributes to the leisure sector, saw a 33.2 per cent drop in GOPPAR.

Jonathan Langston, managing director of TRI Hospitality Consulting, said: “The month of August typically polarises those markets which are heavily reliant on the commercial sector, including Manchester and Newcastle, and those which benefit from a greater proportion of leisure demand such as Bath and Brighton.

“Given the challenges of modifying cost levels for a single month, the variance in demand levels during the leisure-led summer months can have a marked impact on a hotel’s profitability.”

Overall, those hotels situated in the provinces saw GOPPAR drop by 1.2 per cent, meaning performance is still to reach the levels seen in August 2008.

London performance​

London hotels, which continued to see growth in GOPPAR at 9.5 per cent, also failed to match the performance levels of 2008.

“Despite the strong performance, August was the first month since the ash cloud-related declines back in April that the London hotel market has not regained the losses experienced in 2009,” Langston added.

“As we progress through the year there will be a hardening of comparables from 2009 and the challenge for London hoteliers will be to surpass the strong levels of growth achieved during London’s recovery in last 2009.”