European Hotels Hit Hard By Economic Turmoil | travelweekly.co.uk
Chain hotels in the UK and Europe have been hit hard by the "rapidly deteriorating" economic conditions and are cutting their rates to shore up business levels, figures released this week suggest. Paris has been worst affected, as profit fell by 31.7% and occupancy plunged nearly 10% from August to September. The drop put Paris into fourth place in the most profitable cities ranking behind London, Amsterdam and Berlin. Amsterdam and Vienna also experienced significant drops in demand and profit last month. Average occupancy in the Dutch capital fell by 9% to 80.7% and Vienna's occupancy dropped to 79.8%. Of the 10 cities surveyed, only Hamburg saw a growth in profit thanks to visitors to SMM, a biennial shipbuilding trade fair.
