Hoteliers view 2012 with 'cautious optimism' as 40% consider expansion

According to Knight Frank's Hotel Operator Sentiment Survey 2011, 40 per cent of hoteliers will look at opening more hotels in the UK next year with those who already have a strong presence in the South West most keen to expand. Twenty-eight per cent said they'd also consider expanding overseas.

On the flipside, 12 per cent of the 280 respondents said they may downscale their estate in the next year. The majority of those were based in the North and the Midlands.

Fifty per cent of operators said they would be investing in refurbishing their existing stock and 30 per cent are looking into installing greener technology such as solar panels as rising energy costs become an increasing concern.

Positive and upbeat​

Knight Frank, who interviewed hoteliers from both the luxury and budget sectors during the first quarter of this year for their survey, said: "The view provided by our panel was relatively positive and upbeat.

"There is no doubt that the sector has issues to resolve, especially in some of the main regional cities, where business segment accommodation is in relatively strong supply. But two years on, from the depths of the recession, the sector overall has been performing as well as could be expected."

Performance and growth​

Looking back at performance in 2010, London was, unsurprisingly the top performing hotel market while in the regions, Oxford, Cambridge, Bath, York and Edinburgh were also found to have performed well. Overall, RevPar figures for the UK were up 7 per cent on 2009 with London up 11 per cent and the provinces up 3 per cent.

Looking forward, the majority of hoteliers expect RevPar and average daily rates (ADR) to improve over the next year.