London hotels see occupancy rise - TRI

Fall in rates also slows

London hotels saw an increase in occupancy of 1.5% in October 2009, compared to the same month last year.

At 85.1%, the occupancy rate was among the highest in 2009, according to the latest HotStats survey by TRI Hospitality Consulting.

But the revPAR (revenue per available room) in London fell by 3.2%. While still on a downturn, the rate reflects the narrowest margin of decline since July 2008.

Jonathan Langston, TRI Hospitality Consulting's managing director, said: "Although we are dealing with softer comparables of the fourth quarter of 2008, the continued improvements in headline performance in London are encouraging."

In the UK regions,occupancy fell slightly from 75.7% in September to 76.3% in October.

Average room rates outside London saw the smallest margin of decline since January. Rates fell by 7.6% from £75 in Ocotober 2008 to £69 last month.

While the low rates remain an issue, possibly due to a fall in business travellers visiting the UK, travellers leaving  Britain have also declined, which is helping hotels outside  London to reduce the year-on-year rate of decline, said the report.

The gross operating profit per available room (GOP PAR) for hotels outside London declined by 10.5% in October, compared to a fall of 13.2% in September

Mr Langston said: "UK hoteliers have sacrificed room rate whilst successfully managing volume and costs and as a result, provincial GOP PAR (gross operating profit per available room)declines are the lowest they have been since September 2008."

www.trihc.com