Hotels in Bristol and the West Country bucked the turbulent economy in the regions, according to the new Hotel Britain 2011.
The report reviews the performance of 549 hotels representing over 92,117 rooms across both London and the regions and includes 2,722 rooms in Bristol, Bath and Swindon.
Neil Dimes, partner in charge of the South West office of PKF accountants and business advisers, which produced the report, acknowledged that while much of this upturn is attributed to London which still remains the powerhouse behind the UK hotel industry, hotels in the West did, on the whole, outperform other regional towns and cities with improvements particularly in occupancy in comparison to the year before.
“London hotel performance improved substantially in 2010 when compared to 2009, despite the ash cloud which closed most of Europe’s air space for six days in April, and the extreme winter snow which caused extensive travel disruptions,” he said.
“In the first half of the year, London benefited from the weak pound which encouraged overseas visitors to the UK and boosted a demand for accommodation in the capital. This led to rooms yield increasing by 12.5% on 2009 to £119.57 — the highest they have been for the five year period under review.
By contrast, the general picture in the regions is less rosy largely due to corporate belt-tightening with business travel and accommodation budgets remaining strictly controlled. This particularly impacted the meetings, incentives, conference and events (MICE) market; although there were signs towards the end of the year that the situation was changing with a zest for meetings and events in regional hotels returning.
“Countrywide, England and Scotland achieved rooms yield growth of 2.7% and 1.1% respectively while Wales was down 0.4% due to an annual drop in occupancy of 0.7%.”
Against this general backdrop however hotels in the West are bucking the regional trend. In Bristol occupancy was up 4.4% in 2010 to 70.1% in comparison to 2009 with average room rates dropping 1.4% to £71.30. The overall impact on rooms yield was a rise of 2.9% to £49.96.
Overall Bath was the best performing area in the West with occupancy increasing 3.4% to 78.4%. With average room rates increasing 6.1% to £87.00 rooms yield were up 9.8% to £68.24.
Meanwhile in Swindon occupancy increased 3.3% to 65.9% however average room rates dropped 7.3%. The impact on rooms yield was a drop of 4.3% to £37.13.
Looking to the future, Hotel Britain 2011 predicts continued uncertainty for the UK hotel market with much depending on the outcome of wider global issues such as increasing oil prices, economic and financial scepticism, and events in the Middle East, North Africa and Japan.
“The road ahead for the UK hotel market remains stubbornly turbulent and will continue to be impacted by broader worldwide issues. We expect London to remain stable with some anticipation of growth especially as it benefits from the build up to the Olympic Games, the Royal Wedding and the Champions League Final. The recovery of the performance in the regions will, however, be dependent on growth in the MICE and corporate markets.”
Hotel Britain 2011 costs £200 via PKF’s website at www.pkf.co.uk/hotelbritain