Hotels 'hit harder than in Gulf War'

LONDON's top hotels have been hit by a 'lethal cocktail' of empty rooms and falling rates and are doing worse than at any time during the Gulf War, it has been claimed.

Room yield in October following the 11 September attacks on the US was down 33.4% to £68.19 compared with the same time last year, said hotel industry financial adviser PKF.

This compares with a plunge of 33.9% in February 1991 when US and Japanese visitors last took fright. The October 2001 result is worse because although the Gulf War emptied hotel rooms rates held up.

This time, says PKF, travellers strike harder bargains, so empty rooms are also bringing down prices. The figure of 33.4% for the October 2001 room yield is arrived at by multiplying room occupancy by the average achieved room rate. Occupancy levels fell by 22.6%, and average room rate by 13.9%.

Worst hit are the plusher London hotels, although Gatwick and Heathrow hotels were also suffering, while in Brighton the room yield improved.

These are the first fullmonth figures for London's hotels since 11 September, and show that the number of hotel rooms occupied by Americans and Japanese fell by 43.3% and 51%. The number of European visitors is also beginning to shrink, and was down 19% in October.