Scottish hotels continued to have higher occupancy and rooms yield during July compared to the rest of the UK, according to the latest report by accountants and business advisers PKF.
The firm’s monthly survey found that year on year occupancy levels in Scotland rose by 2.6% to 82.8% during July; were up 3.5% to 80.2% in regional UK; up 3.6% to 79.8% in England; and up 3.8% to 81.2% in Wales.
Rooms yield during the month rose 0.2% to £61.41 in Scotland; was up 2.6% to £49.68 in regional UK; up 3.3% to £47.98 in England and reduced 5.1% to £42.26 in Wales.
Occupancy fell by 1.0% in Aberdeen but rose by 2.2% in Edinburgh and by 2.5% in Glasgow. Rooms yield increased by 5.8% in Glasgow, was up 4.3% in Aberdeen, and rose by 2.7% in Edinburgh.
Alastair Rae, a partner in the Real Estate and Hospitality sector at PKF, said, “The trend for the year to date has been very positive and Scotland’s hoteliers can congratulate themselves for maintaining such high levels of occupancy and rooms yield despite the continuing uncertainties which the wider economy is presenting.
“I would expect the remainder of the summer to produce equally good figures for Scotland with the only proviso that the economy remains volatile and there is increasing concern among many that the economy is simply bumping along the ground and that real growth remains both elusive and some way off. It is vital, therefore, that hoteliers push rates upwards whilst the going is good in the expectation that this may not always be the case.”
PKF’s hotel trends surveys have been published since the early 1970s and features a broad range of hotels in the 3 – 4 star categories.
