Hotels forced to drop prices to woo guests

HOTELS across the North West are having a tough time and are having to cut prices to woo guests, according to accountany firm PKF.

Monthly figures for October from PKF Hotel Consultancy Services reveals falls in room rates and occupancy levels compared with 2009.

In Manchester a short term boost brought by the Labour Party Conference was short-lived, room rates were  down 3.4% to £77.18,, occupancy was down 1.4% to 78.8% and rooms yields fell 4.7% to £60.82.  

Liverpool which had another tough month. Here, room rates fell from £66.24 to £63.79 whilst occupancy was down 5.2% to 77.4%. Overall rooms yield fell 8.7% to £49.37.

In Blackpool and Chester there was a similar picture. Despite the popular annual illuminations there was a decline on the 2009 performance.  Room rate fell 6.5% to £70.97, occupancy from 85.5% to 81% resulting in a rooms yield of £57.49 a fall of 11.4%.

In Chester, room rate was down 2.7% to £64.46, occupancy by 5.2% to 74.5% and rooms yield was down 7.8% to £48.02.

Jane Jackson, partner at PKF, commented, “The results posted by the region’s hotels are evidence of the tough economic conditions we are facing at the moment.

“Hotels are having to discount their room rates in order to keep occupancy levels up; unfortunately this is not enough to stop the slide in rooms yield. Having said this, 78.8% occupancy for Liverpool and 81.0% for Manchester are solid numbers despite the falls.”