UK Chain Hotels Market Review – May 2009

The impact of the recession on UK hotels lessened slightly in May, according to the latest HotStats survey by industry experts, TRI Hospitality Consulting. The rate of decline in occupancy is slowing. For the first 5 months of this year occupancy at UK hotels was down 3.7 points but for May it was down 2.7 points. The decline in rate was slightly more but this was not enough to make the decline in RevPAR worse. RevPAR was down 10.9% in May and down 11.8% for the first 5 months. Most importantly, profit, as measured by income before fixed charges, was down 18.1% for the first 5 months but down significantly less at 12.6% for the month of May.