London hostels suffered a sharpened decline in occupancy last month, after the Icelandic ash cloud closed down UK airspace limiting travel. New figures from PKF Hotel Consultancy Services suggest the effect of the ash cloud for London hoteliers was negative, with bookings down overall after a preliminary bounce due to stuck visitors extending their stay.
Occupancy in the capital dropped 7.6 percent annual to 76.3 per cent in April, though an increase in room rate, down to the loss of lower volume business like tour groups driving average cost up, meant revPAR was down just 0.3 % at £93.20.
In the regions occupancy increased 1.7 percent to 68.1 percent, though room rate slipped 3.6 percent to £58.11. This meant revPAR was two percent lower than last year at £39.54. Robert Barnard, partner for hotel consultancy services at PKF, expounded : Hopefully the negative impact will be fugitive, however as the volcano continues to explode, there’s still a good deal of doubt for hoteliers and travellers. Gurus have foretold the doubt will lead on to a jump in UK vacation bookings as customers look to avoid flying this summer.