Occupancy continues to rise for Cheltenham hotels

The Cheltenham hotel sector experienced a good month in April.

That’s the view according to data from PKF Accountants & business advisers which shows that both occupancy and rooms yield increased during the month. The news however wasn’t all good with average room rates dropping in the month.

The April figures show that occupancy increased 9.1% from 63.4% in 2009 to 69.2% in 2010 with rooms yield rising 4.0% from £33.79 in 2009 to £35.15 in 2010.

Average room rates however dropped 4.6% from £53.26 in 2009 to £50.79 in 2010.

Neil Dimes, partner in charge at the Bristol office of PKF said: “This is good news for the Cheltenham hotel sector and is the second month in a row in which occupancy has risen year on year.

“The rise in occupancy could be accounted for by the drop in average room rates which may have attracted more people. This is a good indication that hotel managers and owners are reacting to market conditions which, judging by the rise in rooms yield, is having the desired effect.

“The month was probably helped by the fact that the Easter holidays fell in the first week of the month.

“The disruption caused by the Icelandic ash cloud could also have forced some travellers to stay over for longer than originally planned again helping push up occupancy but overall, the effects have not been too dramatic.

“Although these figures are encouraging the sector is still in quite a delicate state so managers will have to remain vigilant in order to maintain this rise in occupancy.”

Elsewhere in the region Bristol hoteliers enjoyed a slight rise in occupancy of 2.8% up from 65.5% in 2009 to 67.3% in 2010. Average room rates were down slightly 1.5% from £66.34 in 2009 to £65.35 in 2010 with rooms yield increasing by 1.2%.

Swindon posted another set of poor figures with occupancy down 2.9%, average room rates down 8.7% and rooms yield down 11.4%.