Good May for UK hotels but London still lags

Hotels in the UK saw a strong upswing in businesss during May, but those in London still have not returned to the levels of 2002, according to the latest figures from consultants PKF.

London hotels saw occupancy up by 12.7% to 76.6% and average room rate rise by 9.4% to £102.81.

This pushed revenue per available room (revpar) up by 23.3% to £78.75.

The figures compare with occupancy of 74.5%, room rate of £107.01 and revpar of £79.72 in 2002.

Outside London, occupancy was up by 4% to 73.4% and room rate increased by 4.1% to £64.55. Revpar rose by 8.3% to £47.37.

The figures for the regions are slightly higher than in 2002, when occupancy was 71.1%, room rate was £63.72 and revpar £45.30.

Robert Barnard, hotel consultancy services director at PKF, said: "The strong performance in London and the regions is encouraging for hoteliers who will be gearing up for the summer season."

But he added: "Clearly the capital's hoteliers still have some work to do to win back the ground lost as a result of last year's war and problems such as the threat of Sars."

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