UK hotel market remains strong

Fears of a slowdown in the UK hotel market have yet to materialise as demand remained strong in the third quarter of the year although revenue per available room (revpar) dipped from a summer high, research has revealed.

Deloitte's Hotel Benchmark survey, unveiled at the consultancy's European Hotel Conference yesterday, shows that national revpar has grown by 6.8% in the year to September compared with last year. Growth for the six months ending June stood at 8.3%.

The Scottish hotel market has seen the strongest revpar growth, with Aberdeen revenues up by 18.6% and Glasgow up by 13.1%.

London continues to have the highest occupancy levels in the UK at 82.7% with revpar up 10.4% and average room rates rising from £114 this time last year to £126 at the end of September.

Marvin Rust, hospitality managing partner at Deloitte, said: "Fears of a slowdown following the summer's global financial crisis have not yet materialised in the UK hotel market.

"While growth has slowed slightly from the 8.3% seen during the first six months of the year, we remain positive about the outlook for hotel performance," he added.

Rust said that corporate bookings remained strong, with consumer spending not dropping as unemployment levels remained low.

Meanwhile an increase in visitors from Europe and Asia has off-set a decline in visitors from the USA.

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By Christopher Walton

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