UK hotels fight recession

Discounting and weak pound driving sales - TRI

The impact of the recession on the UK's chain hotels is showing signs of slowing, the latest HotStats survey from TRI Hospitality Consulting has revealed.

Hotel profits year-on-year fell 12.6% in May, well above the 18.1% decline seen over the first five months of 2009.

TRI said London had performed particularly well with occupancy still high at 81.3% last month, driven in part by higher discounting.

TRI's managing director Jonathan Langston said: "Strong occupancy levels confirm the resilience of the London hotel market, giving it a strong position to regain rate once market conditions improve."

Occupancy in London was well above the levels seen during the recession of the 1990s, at 63% on average.

The effect of the recession on hotels in other UK regions was "more pronounced" than in London said TRI.

Regionally, profits per room fell to 15.8% last month year-on-year compared to London's "more moderate" decline of 9.6%.

TRI said a weakened pound had encouraged visitors from mainland Europe, citing figures from UK travel and tourism agency VisitBritain.

The threat of swine flu and increasing environmental awareness had hit demand for overseas travel with many Britons opting to stay in the UK, TRI said.

www.trihc.com