London hotels show ‘genuine' growth in first six months

London hotels have had a terrific year, according to a special report by hotel benchmarking service The Bench.

The London Special Report was commissioned to provide an accurate benchmark of just how well London hotels have done during the first half of the year, before July's figures distort the picture.

James Chappell, managing director of The Bench, said: "The market was so depressed after the July terror bombings last year that the growth figures for this year will be off the scale in comparison."

Star performers have been the capital's five-star hotels, which "hardly missed a beat" after the attacks in contrast with the harder-hit three- and four-star sectors.

A surge in visitor numbers to the capital enabled five-star hotels to boost average room rate by 8.45% to £221.75, double the growth of 4.18% recorded in the same period of 2005. Occupancy rose 6.6 percentage points to 77.04%, compared with 3.97 percentage points in 2005. As a result, revenue per available room leapt 15.66% to £170.83 at five-star hotels, compared with 8.32% last year.

Four-star hotels in the capital also progressed. Room rate grew 4.76% to £98.51, and occupancy increased 5.91 percentage points to 81.61%. This lead to a double-digit revpar gain of 10.95% to £80.40.

But the price-sensitive three-star market found it difficult to raise room rates, which grew by just 44p to £71.87. Occupancy grew 5.3 percentage points to 81.04% and revpar was up 5.96% at £58.25.

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By Angela Frewin

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