London hotel occupancy up in April on discounts

www.trihospitality.com

In April, the average room occupancy rate at chain hotels in London remained above 80 per cent, on strong leisure demand, a new study has shown.

The timing of Easter this year also contributed to the 80.4 per cent rate in the capital, according to the most recent TRI Hospitality Consulting HotStats survey.

Easter holiday figures this year matched those for the 2008 Easter weekend and exceeded the 77.6 per cent seen in April of 2007.

For March, the London room occupancy rate was 67.3 per cent, nearly the same as the level seen during the same period in 2008.

A decrease in the number of business travellers led to London’s average room rate falling by over 10 per cent, to £106.17 and in the provinces by 11 per cent, to £67.01.

According to TRI, the recession seemed to be having a more significant impact on provincial hotels during the first four months of 2009.

In London, revenue per available room dropped by 10.8 per cent, and by 13.1 per cent outside the capital.

Jonathan Langston, the managing director of TRI Hospitality Consulting, said: “Easter is historically a quieter time for branded chain hotels because there are fewer business guests,” adding: “This year, however, as hoteliers reacted to the downturn in corporate demand, discounted leisure deals kept overall occupancy levels high.”

Thanks to www.travelmole.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.trihospitality.com