UK hotels boast double the growth rate to that of Europe

UK hotels boast double the growth rate to that of Europe Scandinavia outperforms rest of Europe in RevPAR stakes; weekend occupancy vital to hotel business models, says KPMG Revenue per Available Room UK hotels achieved growth levels in RevPAR (Revenue per Available Room) almost two and half times greater than the whole of Europe according to new data from research marketing information company The Bench and professional services firm KPMG.

The UK recorded a 5.5 per cent growth in RevPAR in 2005 compared to 2.2 per cent in Europe. However, Scandinavian hotels top the growth in Europe for 2005.

Scandinavia saw RevPAR growth of 6.7 per cent with Copenhagen recording the highest growth at nearly 20 per cent to €69, followed by Oslo which saw a 17 per cent growth in RevPAR to €70. (Data is based on 5*, 4* and 3* full-service hotels.) Aberdeen was the strongest performer in the UK and saw its RevPAR increase by just over 16 per cent to help the UK record a 5.5 per cent increase. Europe overall recorded a growth rate of 2.2 per cent.

Jamie Chappell, Managing Director of The Bench said “Scandinavia is a rags-to-riches story. Having suffered during the downturn of the dot com era, the turnaround in performance is exceptional, and was driven by a combination of a huge increase in low cost flights to the region and an exceptional conference year. The rest of Europe remained fairly stagnant which reflects the general state of the French and German economies, although Germany will be looking forward to demand finally matching supply during the World Cup in 2006.”

London recovered remarkably quickly from the July bombings to remain at the head of European performance rankings in terms of overall RevPAR, but the fact that the rest of the UK grew almost twice as much highlights the terrific performance of cities such as Gatwick, Aberdeen and Liverpool.

Nine UK destinations dominated the top 10 occupancy table with Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh, Manchester, London, Cardiff, Newcastle, Bath & Bristol, and Glasgow being listed, whilst Amsterdam came fourth. Oslo recorded the highest growth in occupancy in 2005 with an 11.5 per cent increase to 68 per cent. The highest ranked UK destination in terms of occupancy growth was Aberdeen which saw an increase of 6 per cent to 72 per cent occupancy levels.

According to Philip Camble, hotel adviser at KPMG’s travel, leisure and tourism practice, “Within the business oriented cities under review, strong weekend trade is critical to achieving average annual occupancy levels in excess of 70 per cent, which should be target for all city centre hotels. Weekend occupancy is therefore crucial to the business model, and remains a key part of marketing and sales strategies for the industry as a whole.”