UK Hoteliers Hold Own Despite Gloomy August Weather | PKF Reports

In the capital, hotels achieved 4.4% growth in rooms yield on the same time last year. This was largely down to a 5.7% increase in room rate from £126.42 last year to £133.68 this year. Occupancy levels only dipped marginally, down 1.3% on 2007, and year to date figures show the capital has so far had a good 2008 with rooms yield up 7.2% on 2007.

The UK regions had mixed experiences. Overall, room rate was up 1.9% from £71.49 in 2007 to £72.84 this year and occupancy levels were down 2.0%. This meant rooms yield fell slightly on 2007 by 0.2%.

Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds and European Capital of Culture Liverpool, all had strong months. In Leeds, rooms yield increased by 6.1% on 2007 – a combination of a 4.2% rise in room rate and a 1.8% rise in occupancy.

In Cardiff occupancy was up 4.8% and room rate 6.7%. These rises meant rooms yield jumped from £48.88 to £54.69 and the increases are likely to be largely because 2007 was a slower year than normal for the city. This is not the case for Liverpool however, which continues to build momentum as European Capital of Culture as the year develops. This month, rooms yield was up 16.0% on 2007.

Robert Barnard, partner for Hotel Consultancy Services at PKF, commented, “We are now well over half way through what can only be described, from an economic perspective, as a turbulent year compounded by the events of black Monday, 15 September 2008.

“Looking solely at the UK’s hotel figures for 2008, however, you would be for forgiven for forgetting about the turmoil as hoteliers across the country have so far experienced a steady year. It is true that there have been some dips in occupancy over the last eight months, but these have been by no means drastic. 2007 was also a very strong year and therefore some losses in 2008 were to be expected.

“Let’s hope this momentum is maintained, but inevitably there will be some fallout with the markets as they are."

Preliminary data for August 2008

Final data for July 2008

Definition of the key terms used in the surveys table are given below:

• Room occupancy: the ratio of total occupied rooms to total available rooms
• Average achieved room rate (AARR): rooms revenue divided by the total number of guest rooms occupied during the year.
• Rooms yield: room occupancy multiplied by the average achieved room rate (also known as RevPar).

1. PKF is a leading firm of accountants and business advisers with more than 1,800 partners and staff operating in 23 offices in the UK mainland firm, a wholly-owned financial planning company and associated offshore practices. The firm specialises in advising growing and entrepreneurial/owner-managed businesses, AIM and fully listed companies, and also has extensive experience in the public and not-for-profit sectors. Principal services include assurance and advisory; taxation; consultancy; corporate recovery and insolvency; corporate finance and forensic. The firm has particular expertise in advising sectors such as hotels and leisure; mining and resource; public sector; real estate and construction; professional practices; not-for-profit; and medical. The firm’s web site is .



2. PKF (UK) LLP is a member of PKF International which is an association of legally independent firms with more than 14,650 people operating in 119 countries around the world.



3. PKF has been providing hotel consultancy services since the early 1970s and, in that time, has undertaken thousands of assignments throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa and further a field. Services include: market evaluation and financial feasibility studies; operational and profit improvement reviews; asset management; business valuations; international property services; corporate strategy and planning; litigation support. PKF’s web site features regular articles from the firm’s hotel consultancy services experts on industry topics – the address is .



4. PKF’s hotel trends surveys feature a broad range of hotels across the country although mainly in the 3 – 4 star categories and featuring rather more chain operated hotels than those operated independently. While there are a fair number of hotels in country and rural areas, there is a predominance of hotels in towns and cities. In London, supply featured is mainly in the 3 –5 star categories.