Yorkshire hotels buck sector downturn

YORKSHIRE hotels bucked the national trend and saw growth in 2008 but the outlook for the current year is decidedly pessimistic, according to a survey by business advisory firm Deloitte.

Leeds hotels saw revenue per available room (revPAR) rise by 4.9% in 2008 to £42 in a year when hoteliers in the UK began to feel the effects of both consumers and corporations reducing their travel budgets.

Hotels in York increased revPAR by 2.4% to £50 and in Sheffield by 0.4% to £40.
Liverpool was another city to buck the trend, benefiting from its status as European Capital of Culture, with revPAR up by 11.9% to £55.

All in stark contrast to Brighton where there was a decline in revPAR of 11.8% in the wake of several new and refurbished hotels opening in late 2007 and throughout 2008 coupled with a decline in the conference and exhibitions market.

Reading and the M4 corridor experienced the second largest decline, down 5.7% on the previous year, which is primarily explained by the greater exposure to the US through the technology companies based in the region.

Martin Jenkins, partner in the Leeds office of Deloitte, said new room supply in Leeds balanced out with strong demand from the meetings, incentive, conference and exhibitions market (MICE) attracted to the Royal Armouries Museum event space, in addition to playing host to events such as the World Corporate Games in July 2008.

He added: “Looking ahead, 2009 will be an extremely difficult year for hoteliers across the UK with substantial falls in revPAR to come.

“In a downturn London is normally hit harder than regional centres but with a weak currency providing some countercyclical balance and a fragile domestic economy, the capital is likely to be the first to bounce back when recovery begins.”