There was a second consecutive year of growth from hotels in the UK, which showed a 6.7% increase in profit per room. This resulted in a 1.6% year on year gross operating profit increase, with rooms, food and beverage increasing in profitability although Leisure, Conference and Banqueting showed a decline.
Hotels’ overheads were up by 3.3% and one of the impacts was the cost of utilities and labour. The UK hotel market is seen to be strong, despite Brexit.
Growth in London was slower with hotels recording a 3.6% profit increase per room in 2018. In the first quarter of the year there was a decline, but the market improved from May onwards.
December was a poor month for hotels in Europe, however, overall operating profit per room in 2018 was up by 9.2%. This was the second consecutive year of gains.
The best performing destination was Vienna which saw a 24.2% increase in revenue per room, compared with 2017. Paris achieved good profits for the first 11 months of the year, but the ‘yellow vests’ protests meant that visitors in December were down as many businesses and tourist attractions were closed.
For more information about hotel profitability visit www.hotstats.com
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