Source: PKF

For 2012 as a whole, rooms yield in London reached £122.59, 3.5% higher than in the previous year. This was driven by a 4.8% increase in room rate from £143.37 to £150.23, which more than offset a 1.3% drop in occupancy from 82.6% to 81.6%. In the regions, rooms yield rose by 0.5% to £42.43 on the back of a 0.7% increase in room rate from £59.61 to £60.00 and a 0.2% reduction in occupancy from 70.8% to 70.7%.

Looking specifically at December, hotels in the capital saw room rate fall by 1.3% to £137.01, compared with £138.84 a year earlier, whilst occupancy increased by 0.7% from 75.3% to 75.9%. This resulted in a rooms yield decline of 0.6% to £104.00. Regional hotels posted a 2.7% rise in room rate from £55.04 to £56.55 and a 0.3% drop in occupancy from 60.9% to 60.8%. Rooms yield consequently grew by 2.4% to £34.37, compared with £33.55 a year ago.

Robert Barnard, partner for Hotel Consultancy Services at PKF, commented: "The hotel sector as a whole will be satisfied with its performance during 2012, all things considered.

"Despite high profile events such as Diamond Jubilee celebrations and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the abiding memory of the past 12 months for many in the industry will be the absence of any meaningful recovery in consumer or business confidence. Operators in London and the regions therefore deserve credit for posting year-on-year increases in rooms yield at a time when the domestic economy has stagnated and concerns about the Eurozone have constrained demand from overseas.

"Expectations for 2013 are likely to remain modest unless we see any significant economic recovery. The lack of any meaningful new development should shield operators to some extent, but the industry is still waiting for a sustained increase in demand. As things stand, many will be relieved just to hold their own this year.

"The snow and associated travel disruption that we have seen over the past week will not have helped the sector – particularly as January 2012 was unusually warm and dry. Hoteliers have shown that they are a resourceful bunch over the past few years but this is not the start to 2013 that many will have hoped for."