French hotel giant Accor saw revenues for the first three months of 2007 rise by 8.9% as the group said it was being lifted by a favourable business environment and an upturn in the European hospitality industry cycle.

Consolidated revenues finished at €1,887m (£1,281m) with the hotel business revenues up 9.1% to €1,346m. Accor said the hotel business growth was led by increases in both average room rate and occupancy rate.

Upscale and mid-scale hotel revenues in the UK grew by 9.7%, against 8.5% growth for the whole group. Economy hotel revenues grew by 14.3% in the UK, an improvement on the 8% worldwide growth.

Revpar in the UK for upscale and mid-scale hotels saw occupancy rates up by 3.2 percentage points to 74.3% with average room rates to by 6.8% to £84. In UK economy hotels occupancy was up 5.3 percentage points to 71.6% with average room rates up by 2.2% to £52.

In February, Accor finalised the sale and leaseback of one-third of their UK properties agreeing the sale of 30 properties to Land Securities Trillium for £439m. The hotels were mainly two- and three-star city centre properties operating in London under the Obis and Novotel brands.

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By Christopher Walton

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