HotStats UK Chain Hotels Market Review – October 2013
Despite positive performance overall in the provinces, West Midlands hoteliers showed that total revenue and profit growth is not always equally distributed with this region experiencing challenging trading conditions in October, according to the latest HotStats survey.
Beginning with this edition of the HotStats UK Chain Hotels Market Review, we will focus each month on key cities and regional performance to provide our readers unique and in-depth knowledge of the UK hotel market.
Revenue down but profit stable in the West Midlands
Despite positive performance overall in the provinces, West Midlands hoteliers showed that total revenue and profit growth is not always equally distributed with this region experiencing challenging trading conditions in October, according to the latest HotStats survey.
Notwithstanding a 1.0% increase in average room rate (ARR), revenue per available room (RevPAR) remained unchanged at £50.74 due to a 0.7 percentage point drop in occupancy at 72.4%. With leisure revenue per available room remaining flat, meeting room hire per available room was the only department showing a positive movement of 4.4%; revenue per available room derived from food and beverage decreased by 1.2% and 0.5% respectively. As a result, total revenue per available room (TrevPAR) decreased by 0.4% to £103.36.
Nevertheless, hoteliers achieved a 0.5% increase in departmental operating profit per available room (DOPPAR) to £59.10, with payroll decreasing slightly as a percentage of total revenue. Operators’ ability to efficiently manage operational costs helped to maintain gross operating profit per available room (GOPPAR) at £34.96, despite overheads rising by 1.4%.
London confirms rebound with a second consecutive month of strong performance
In October, hoteliers in London confirmed their rebound with total revenue and profit increases per available room of 6.0% and 8.5% respectively compared to the same month last year, according to the latest HotStats survey.
Although occupancy remained flat at 87.2%, a surge in ARR of 7.2% to £158.57 boosted RevPAR by 7.1%. Ancillary revenues also experienced growth per available room, most notably from food (+4.7%) and meeting room hire (12.6%), leading to a TrevPAR increase of 6.0%. This uplift was enhanced by operational costs control with rooms and food and beverage conversion increasing by 0.5 of a percentage point to 79.7% and 2.4% percentage points to 40.1% respectively. With overheads remaining stable and payroll decreasing by 1.5 percentage points, GOPPAR increased by 8.5% to £98.57.
The calendar year performance showed a minor 0.5% increase in RevPAR but this gain was not enough to reverse the GOPPAR decline of 2.7%, demonstrating once again the importance of looking beyond rooms KPI.
Bristol amongst the best performing markets
Hoteliers in Bristol experienced positive movements across all headline performance indicators in October compared to the same period last year, according to the latest HotStats survey. Both increases in occupancy – up 3.8 percentage points to 77.7% - and in ARR – up by 2.0% to £73.58 - led to a 7.3% surge in RevPAR. With growth in all non-rooms departments, TrevPAR rose by 9.6% to £98.92. Astute cost control contributing to a 12.1% increase in DOPPAR and payroll efficiency enhanced the overall performance to a stunning year-on-year increase of 22.7% in GOPPAR.
On a calendar year basis, October confirmed a great period so far for Bristol hoteliers reflected in an increase in TrevPAR and GOPPAR of 6.4% and 10.4% respectively.
Average Room Rate (ARR) is the total bedroom revenue for the period divided by the total bedrooms occupied during the period.
Room RevPar (RevPAR) is the total bedroom revenue for the period divided by the total available rooms during the period.
Total RevPar (TrevPAR) is the combined total of all revenues divided by the total available rooms during the period.
Payroll % is the payroll for all hotels in the sample as a percentage of total revenue.
GOPPAR is the Total Gross Operating Profit for the period divided by the total available rooms during the period.
For an inside view of a local or regional market place in the hotel sector, bespoke HotStats reports are available. Terms and conditions apply. Visit
Our unique profit and loss benchmarking service which enables monthly comparison of hotels’ performance against their competitors. It is distinguished by the fact that it provides in excess of 100 performance metric comparisons covering 70 areas of hotel revenue, cost, profit and statistics providing far deeper insight into the hotel operation than any other tool.
Our latest innovation in daily revenue intelligence, MORSE. Amongst its reporting are daily and highly granular market segmentation metrics as well as distribution channel and source of booking analysis. It takes daily market intelligence to a whole new level.