Hilton occupancies hold firm

Occupancy rates at Hilton's London hotels remain high despite the fall in foreign visitors to the capital, chief executive David Michels said today.

The group's 13 hotels across London recorded an average occupancy of 81.7% last week, he said, compared with 82% at the same time last year.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /?>

Consultants PKF this week published a survey showing occupancy rates in the capital fell by 6.3% in June.

But Michels said that although businesses had been hit hard over the past year, things were looking up.

"The foot-and-mouth crisis is over," he said. "There was only a 21% decrease in the foreign market in April and it fell to 10% last month. They are coming back."

Michels was speaking at the third annual View from the Top lunch organised by industry networking group Arena and held at the London Hilton on Park Lane.

Interviewed by TV newscaster Alastair Stewart, he described the recent remarks by tourism minister Kim Howells as "unnecessary" and said they had not helped to rebuild faith in the industry.

Howells told Caterer & Hotelkeeper earlier this month that foot-and-mouth was not the root cause of the industry's problems. Instead he blamed low wages, poorly trained staff and high prices.