London shows highest occupancy
Hotel performance fell across Europe this year, revealed a report today (November 18) by consultants Deloitte.
The survey showed a 19.2% drop in revenue per available room (revPAR) in Europe between September 2008 and September 2009.
The report said this decline was driven by a 12.3% fall in average room rates and a drop in average occupancy levels to 61.6%.
Alex Kyriakidis, Deloitte's global managing partner of tourism hospitality and leisure, said: "The past year has been one of turbulence for European hoteliers as the economic crisis has taken its toll.
"Soaring unemployment, the outbreak of the H1N1 influenza virus and the strength of the Euro against many world currencies has seriously impacted hotel performance in Europe."
Mr Kyriakidis said that every city across the region reported declines in revPAR year-to-September, some more severe than others.
Prague and Moscow reported some of the largest falls in revPAR, plummeting 26.4% and 30.5% respectively. Both cities also saw a wave of new hotel openings this year.
The revPAR in London fell 7.6% year-to-September, but hotels in the UK capital still have the highest occupancy in Europe at 79.8%.
The only two cities in Europe to show occupancy growth were Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Despite recent poor performance, Marvin Rust, Hospitality Managing Partner at Deloitte, predicted that the worst is over for European hotels.
"We are already seeing signs of economic recovery across Europe," he said.
"It will be an uphill struggle for some months to come before hoteliers start to post positive results once more, however it looks like the worst may be over and the New Year should see a reversal of part of the revPAR declines seen in 2009."
www.deloitte.co.uk