Hotels in the Russian capital of Moscow are the most profitable in Europe, according to a new survey.
TRI Hospitality Consulting HotStats' survey of leading European cities found that hotel rooms in Moscow generated an average profit of 136.30 for the first nine months of 2006.
The next in line was London where income per room before fixed charges was 99.95.
Moscow came top, TRI said, despite having a lower revenue per available room (revPAR) than London, Amsterdam and Paris.
The key to Moscow's "success", said the survey was its "strong room rate" and low wages. Its room rate of 189.96 was topped only by that of Paris at 198.80. It also had the lowest occupancy of 68.5%, well below London's top figure of 85.3%.
London's hotel boom in 2006 is continuing according to two surveys. TRI Hospitality Consulting HotStats' survey found that revPAR in September was 17.3% higher than in the same month of 2005.
Room rate rose by 9.7% to reach £108.80 while occupancy was up 5.6% to 86.5%.
PKF hotel consultancy services said that September saw a continuing boom in London and a "return in force" of visitors to Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool.
It said average daily room yields were up a fifth (20.9%) in London to £108.94, fuelled by occupancy of 87.4% and a 9.2% rise in room rates to £124.64.
Robert Barnard, partner for hotel consultancy services at PKF, said: "The continuing dramatic growth in the London hotel market is very heartening - although we should remember that London was still recovering from the impact of the bombings last September.
"It's clear that regional hotels are continuing to build on their solid performance to date this year."
Hilton reports strong third quarter results
Hilton Hotels Corporation (HHC) reported a 58% increase in its earnings before tax of $440m for the third quarter of 2006 compared with $279m for the same period in 2005.
It said its total revenue for the three months to September was $2.027bn, double the figure for the same 2055 period, while its total operating income was $315m, a 55% increase on the 2005.
Hilton said that for the first nine months of 2006, Hilton reported a net income of $356m compared to $355m for 2005.
The company said that 2007 were expected to be hit by the acquisition of Hilton International earlier this year.
Hilton said that during the three months to September, reservations booked online through its own websites rose 39% while for the first nine months of 2007, the figure was up 33%.
Annual revenue booked through Hilton websites now stands at $2.5bn.
Stephen Bollenbach, co-chairman and ceo of HHC, said: "The fundamentals of our business worldwide continue to be very strong, as evidenced by the significant revPAR growth, management and franchise fee increases and timeshare growth we experienced in the third quarter.
"We are particularly pleased with the performance of our hotels in the United Kingdom - where London is especially robust - Ireland, Continental Europe, and Latin America/Caribbean; all of these international regions saw double-digit revPAR gains in the quarter."
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