UK Regional Hotels Monitor Q1 2014

Inhalt

• The regional hotel market continued to report postive operational performance over the third quarter according to Hotstats. Year to date (September) occupancy was up 1.9 percentage points with average rates and in turn RevPAR (revenue per available room) up 1.9% and 4.6% year on year.
• GOPPAR (gross operating profit per available room) reported a 4.5% increase year-on-year as room rates and occupancy improved and cost growth stabilised. August reported one of the highest annual jumps in GOPPAR of 11.1%.
• Considering that monthly GOPPAR for regional hotels on a rolling 12 month basis finally moved into positive territory in April, 38 months after London, and has continued to improve indicates that regional hotel operational performance may fi nally be back on track.
• Bristol in particular has experienced strong growth across all headline indicators according to Hotstats with year to date GOPPAR (as of October) up 10.4% on the same period last year.
• However, this positive performance is not uniform across the UK. The West Midlands continues to experience challenging trading conditions. Despite improvements in year to date RevPAR and better management of operational costs, GOPPAR remains in negative territory with year to date performance down 1.8%.
• The same is also true for the poorer end of the regional marketplace where tired under-invested assets continue to struggle against rising energy costs in particular.