UK hotels enjoyed a steady growth in January thanks to increases in room rates, according to latest figures from consultancy PKF.

London achieved 3.7% year-on-year growth in revenue per available room (revpar), from £86.18 to £89.40.

This was driven by an increase of 5.3% in room rates as occupancy dropped slightly from 72% last year to 71% this year.

Liverpool saw a 2% growth in rooms yield from £45.65 last year to £46.55 this year but Birmingham dropped 4.2% in rooms yield on last year and Cardiff suffered a 7.5% drop.

Robert Barnard, partner for hotel consultancy services at PKF said: “January was a good month for hoteliers with overall growth seen across the whole of the UK.

“Despite a slight dip in occupancy in both London and the regions, average room rates and average room yields have continued to grow.”

By Gemma Sharkey

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