The latest analysis of the UK hotel industry by Hotstats shows chains across the country saw increases in revenues and profits in July, with London outshining national averages.
A 5.6 per cent increase in total revenue per available room (trevpar) helped UK chain hotels to hit a historic high – 0.8 per cent above the previous record set in September 2017.
Meanwhile, revenue per available room (revpar) was up 7.9 per cent to £114.34, exceeding the previous high of £107.14 achieved in September last year.
According to Hotstats, these figures were boosted by growth in non-rooms revenues, with food and beverage up 0.4 per cent on a per available room basis.
However, further trevpar growth was hampered by a 0.6 per cent decline in conference and banqueting revenue.
After facing rising payroll costs over the last year, UK hotels had a bit of a reprieve in July, with payroll costs down 0.6 per cent to 24.8 per cent.
All of this led to a 7.2 per cent increase in profit per room to £71.10.
Hotstats says the growth was fuelled by the leisure segment, which accounted for 36 per cent of room nights in July – surpassing the annual average of 31.9 per cent for the previous 12 months.
London performed especially well during the month, seeing a 12.8 per cent year-on-year increase in profit per room. This was nearly 45 per cent above the levels recorded at hotels in the capital for the year to July.
Pablo Alonso, CEO of Hotstats, commented: “July is not historically a month during which UK hoteliers would expect to be achieving a trevpar high. However, soaring demand levels, which have primarily been led by the leisure segment, have helped hotels to drive top line revenues in this month over the last couple of years.
“The strength of demand has been attributed to an uplift in ‘staycations’ since the Brexit vote, as well as an increase in international visitors to the UK. The improvement will be to the delight of hotel owners and operators as July presents an opportunity to drive revenue and profit, which previously did not exist.”
hotstats.com