The United Kingdom hotel industry is on the move.
It might not be racing towards 2019 levels, but in comparison to the summer of 2020, performance is much improved.
“The green shoots of recovery appear to be upon us,” said Thomas Emanuel, director of STR, CoStar’s hospitality analytics firm.
The United Kingdom's Stage 3 of lifting COVID-19 lockdown restrictions that began on May 17 is having a noticeable impact on hotel occupancy, with average weekend occupancy now above 55%, Emanuel said.
Occupancy is higher at economy and midscale hotels at around 75%, exceeding hotels in upper-upscale and luxury segments, which still report occupancies of less than 50%, he added.
“[Average daily rate] also has seen something of a bounce, and clearly hotels have increased rate since reopening,” he said. “Rates are now at their highest level since the start of the pandemic and much higher than the August peaks we saw last year. At the time of recording, ADR for the past seven days was consistently sitting at just under 120 pounds sterling ($165)."
Revenue per available room continues to lag in the recovery, however. Emanuel said currently RevPAR is approximately at 60% of its pre-pandemic level.
“There is still a long way to go, but the direction of travel is a positive one,” he said of RevPAR.
He added the U.K. is showing no markets with occupancy less than 30%, which is the first time he has been able to report such news since the beginning of the crisis.
“London remains the laggard,” he said, “at just 39% [occupancy].”
Overall, though, “the summer should be a positive one,” Emanuel said.
For more of Emanuel’s insights into U.K. performance data, watch the video above.
Editor’s note: The video included in this article was filmed by Thomas Emanuel, director at STR, on July 23, 2021, and edited and produced by CoStar Group. HNN is a division of STR, a CoStar Group company.