Capital hotels going from "strength to strength"
Business advisory firm Deloitte has claimed that London hoteliers enjoyed growth in revenue per available room in the last quarter of 2009.
The company, citing a report published by its hotel research group, STR Global, said average revPAR in the capital was up to £110 in Q4, a rise of 5.5%.
Analysts said increased occupancy levels, up 5.8% to 82.9%, were key to the growth.
Conversely, average room rates fell 0.2% to £133.
Marvin Rust, Deloitte's hospitality managing partner, said London hotels had "gone from strength to strength" at the end of a challenging year.
"With sterling still weak against a basket of currencies, London seems set to continue on a fast track to recovery," he predicted.
"Although there may be some downward movement in average room rates in the corporate market, due to the fact that corporate rates have already been re-contracted for next year, the overseas and domestic leisure markets continue to be robust and preliminary year-end results from STR Global show a decline of just 4.8% for the capital."
Meanwhile, hotels across regional UK posted further revPAR declines for the final quarter, falling 7.7% to £44.
Both occupancy and average room rates continued to fall, down 1.1% and 6.7%, respectively.
Preliminary year-end results were still showing double-digit declines in revPAR, according to STR Global.
Mr Marvin said: "What is most worrying about the performance in the regions is that occupancy is still falling, an indication that 2010 will continue to be tough outside the capital.
"Although the first half of 2010 may show signs of recovery in occupancy (as Q1 and Q2 2009 saw significant declines), it is important to note that this may only be a "technical bounce" and the real recovery, at best, is unlikely to be before the second half of this year."
www.deloitte.com