London hoteliers record a decline in RevPAR for the first time in 2011

Despite continued growth in achieved average room rate, hotels in London suffered a 0.7% decline in Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR) this month as year-on-year room occupancy levels dropped by 2.4 percentage points, according to the latest HotStats survey of approximately 550 full-service hotels across the UK by TRI Hospitality Consulting.

In addition to the decline in rooms revenue, hotels in London endured unfamiliar declines across all ancillary departments, including a 7.9% drop in food and beverage revenue to £30.23 per available room and a 4.6% decline in meeting room hire revenue to £7.64 per available room. 

Whilst Total Revenue per Available Room (TrevPAR) levels for the month remain approximately 10% above the year-to-date average (£145.77), illustrating the strength that remains in the London hotel market at this time of year, as a result of the downward departmental movement, total revenue levels in the capital dropped by 2.2% during October to £159.46. 

In line with the decline in TrevPAR, year-on-year profitability levels in London dropped by 3% this month to £80.87 from £83.41 during the same period in 2010. This is only the second month in 2011 in which profit per room has declined in the capital, with the first being August.

“Although a decline in profit levels for the city could not be ruled out following the 16% year-on-year increase in profit per room in October 2010, it goes against the robust performance in the city last month hen Gross Operating Profit per Room (GOPPAR) grew by 10.4%,” said Jonathan Langston, managing director of TRI Hospitality Consulting. 

Despite the increase in achieved average room rate in October, London hoteliers were faced with another unfamiliar situation of a softening in both the achieved rate in the corporate (-0.9%) and leisure (-0.3%) sectors. The decline in these segments this month are in contrast to an increase in achieved sector rates of 4% in the corporate sector and a 5% increase in the leisure sector in the previous nine months. 

Lire la suite : http://www.hospitalitynet.org/file/152004753.pdf

Source : TRI Hospitality Consulting