The London hotel market records second highest occupancy performance in 2009

26th November 2009, 8:22am

The London hotel market has recorded the second highest occupancy performance for the capital in 2009, according to the latest HotStats survey by industry experts TRI Hospitality Consulting.

The staggering London room occupancy, as well as a year-on-year decrease in average room rate of less than 5%, helped to reduce the margin of decline in Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) to its lowest level since July 2008, at only 3.2%.

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

London also showed continuing signs of improvement in the profitability of its hotels. Despite hoteliers struggling to manage payroll costs as effectively as in September 2009, the year-on-year margin of decline in Gross Operating Profit per available room (GOP PAR) was reduced to 4.5% for the month of October.

Following an occupancy of 75.7% in September 2009, a room occupancy of approximately 73.6% in October continued a strong autumnal period for hoteliers in the UK provinces. In addition, provincial average room rate in the month of October 2009 experienced its smallest margin of decline (7.6%) since the beginning of the year to £69.29, from £74.95 in 2008.

However according to VisitBritain, using data from the latest International Passenger Survey, of the 8% fewer visitors to the UK, inbound business travel was down by 23% in the nine months to September 2009. In contrast, the number of lower yielding inbound leisure visitors increased by 3% during the same period.

Related Articles:

• 02 Nov 2009 - London hoteliers lead the way
• 28 Oct 2009 - London hoteliers boost profits
• 01 Oct 2009 - European hotels experience a weak August
• 26 Aug 2009 - London Hotel occupancy exceeds 2008 levels
• 24 Aug 2009 - TRI partners with Visit London
• 18 Aug 2009 - UK hotel general managers remain positive
• 28 Jul 2009 - Occupancy levels hold up at London hotels
• 25 Jun 2009 - Recession has less impact on UK hotels
• 22 May 2009 - London occupancy stays above 80%
• 27 Apr 2009 - UK hotel managers are more optimistic
• 24 Apr 2009 - UK hotels experience heavy falls in profit
• 30 Mar 2009 - Mixed performance across key city hotel markets
• 25 Mar 2009 - Profit down by 17% at London hotels

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