Hotels in most West European countries enjoyed an increase in revenue in the first six months of 2005 with the UK and France leading the way, according to a new survey by MKG Consulting.
British hotels saw their revenue per available room (RevPAR) leap by 5.9% while in France it rose by 3.3%.
Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium also had an increased RevPAR but in Italy it dropped marginally by 0.5% while in Spain it slumped by 4.5%.
Occupancy rates rose slightly in all countries except Italy which had a tiny 0.2% drop.
The report described the UK and French results as “excellent.” It said British hotels, which began their recovery sooner than those on the continent, was likely to enjoy “particularly high occupancy levels.”
In Germany, where RevPAR is strongly tied to fairs, exhibitions and business, had had a good April but a poor May. The country still had among the lowest occupancy rates in Europe at 60% which in turn had led to low rates to attract business.
The report said that Spain had problems with overcapacity and finished 2004 with “particularly poor results, with a drop of 7.3% in RevPAR.”
Falling RevPAR had continued in 2005 while capacity had grown “rapidly.” But it said occupancy rates had stabilised in the first half of the year “which may indicate a turnaround in the situation.”
* While the MKG report said it was still too early to assess the impact of the bombs attacks in London, another report by another hotel monitoring consultancy, The Bench, said hotels in the city seemed to be holding firm. Occupancy in 23,800 hotel rooms the night after the failed bomb attempts were about 5% lower than for the week before and the week later. It also said there was no evidence that room rates were being cut.