Firmdale's boutique hotels defy crunch

Firmdale, the operator of seven of London's most-renowned boutique hotels, including the Charlotte Street, the Haymarket and the Covent Garden, defied the early stages of the credit crunch with bumper profits last year.

After-tax profits were £2.3 million in the year to the end of January, a fourfold increase year-on-year, with turnover up 22% to £51.2 million.

The results were driven by record room rates of £265 - more than double London's 2007 average - at all its properties. Occupancy at Firmdale hotels was 85%, outstripping the London average by 2%.

The figures showthe upmarket hotels sector has yet to suffer the same plight as the rest of the industry, which hasbeen hit by soaring oil prices and the credit crunch.

"This is perhaps because the very affluent always tend to have enough disposable funds for the luxury of a very nice hotel stay, being quite a smallticket item in the context of their overall lifestyles," said Firmdale founder Tim Kemp.

Kemp did not take a dividend last year but the company put £5.7 million in the bank. Firmdale plans to open a hotel in Manhattan, its first outside the UK, next year.