August a ""healthy"" month for British hotels

In London, room rate, occupancy and rooms yield all increased compared to the same time last year.

Room rate was up 3.8 per cent from £99.74 in August 2009 to £103.49 in the same month this year. There was also a marginal increase in occupancy, which went up by 0.2 per cent, from 81.6 per cent last year to 81.9 per cent this year. Overall, rooms yield was up 4.0 per cent from £81.46 to £84.71.
 
In the regions, there was also positive news with room rate, occupancy and rooms yield also all increasing compared to August 2009. Room rate saw a small increase of 0.1 per cent from £59.85 to £59.92, occupancy was up 2.6 per cent from 71.5 per cent to 73.5 per cent and rooms yield increased 2.7 per cent from £42.85 to £44.01.  

Cities​
 
Individual regional cities saw mixed results. Manchester crept ahead on the same time last year with a 1.4 per cent rise in room rate to £65.37, a 0.3 per cent increase in occupancy and a 1.7 per cent rise in rooms yield from £42.36 in 2009 to £43.09 this year.
 
But in nearby Liverpool room rate was down 7.4 per cent from £56.25 to £52.08, occupancy was down by 1.5 per cent, and rooms yield decreased by 8.8 per cent to £37.22.
 
Edinburgh had a mostly good festival month, but did lose some bookings compared to the previous year. Room rate was up 5.5 per cent to £119.00, but occupancy was down 2.7 per cent to 89.0 per cent. Rooms yield was up by 2.7 per cent however.
 
Robert Barnard, partner for Hotel Consultancy Services at PKF, said: “The figures for August suggest demand continues to strengthen compared to 2009 and therefore the outlook is more positive as a result.
 
“However, as mentioned last month the spending review in October could affect business travel again. Hoteliers are at least in a slightly stronger position than earlier in the year so if there are any after effects, we will hopefully find they are not felt too strongly.”