Airport hotel room rates down 20%
15.06.09
British hotels - including the UK's airport hotels - are grappling with the worst trading conditions for 30 years with room rates plummeting and operators slashing prices to attract customers, the Guardian reports, quoting the latest research by accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers. PwC warns that some of the weaker hotel chains could even fail in the current environment.
The accountancy firm expects average UK room rates to fall 10% to just £78 a night in 2009, but that figure disguises the fact that some sectors are facing far worse conditions. At airport hotels, the figure is closer to 20%, it reports. Add to this significant drops in occupancy rates - expected to fall by 13% to 63% in 2009, and PwC is forecasting a national decline of nearly 19% in revenue per room for UK hotels, the worst since its records began in 1980. Again, for airport hotels it will be significantly worse.
Robert Milburn, a partner at PwC, says: ‘The climate is worse than in the period after 9/11 and we are now roughly where we were in the early 1990s recession. But our forecast is that there is worse to come.’ On the flip side, if you are travelling and book in advance, there are some great deals to be had. Even in the summer peak it can be cheaper to book a hotel and free parking deal than just book airport parking.
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