Scotland’s hotels top UK’s occupancy and revenue tables

The firm’s monthly hotel survey found that year-on-year occupancy in Scotland fell 1.0 per cent but remained the highest overall at 87.3 per cent and revenue was £65.90 despite a fall of 11.0 per cent.

Regional UK occupancy was at 84.4 per cent: England at 83.8 per cent; and Wales at 84.9 per cent.

Revenue in regional UK was £57.62: £55.51 in England; and £51.03 in Wales.

Edinburgh and Glasgow had the highest and second highest occupancy in the UK including London at 92.1 per cent and 91.6 per cent respectively.

Despite revenues falling in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow by 11.9 per cent, 11.2 per cent, and 15.9 per cent respectively the actual figures for all three cities were in the top 10 of anywhere in the UK indicating how high the numbers have been in recent years. Only Inverness bucked the trend by seeing revenue increase by 8.8 per cent to £62.35.

Alastair Rae, a partner in the Property, Leisure and Hospitality sector at BDO, said: “It is a mark of how well Scotland’s hospitality sector has been performing that, despite experiencing double digit revenue falls in all three main cities, the overall revenue figure remains in the top 10 of the UK.”

“Aberdeen aside the drop in revenue in Edinburgh and Glasgow is due to very high numbers last year when Edinburgh was basking in a late festival rush as well as multiple major conferences while Glasgow was still on a post-Commonwealth Games high.”

Mr Rae continued: “To have demand still in the 90’s during September is a mark of how important a destination Scotland remains both for business and leisure visitors. The country is becoming an all year round destination through a combination of being a fantastic tourist destination coupled with a major conference, concert and business centre.”

“So despite these falls in revenue the hospitality sector must be feeling reasonably confident for the rest of the year. Aberdeen is, of course, the exception and is still coming to terms with the fall in oil prices which make the hospitality sector highly vulnerable to price fluctuations. I would expect this situation to continue for some time to come.”

Mr Rae concluded: “It is important to recognise that hospitality is a barometer of the wider economy. When confidence is high hotels do well, when it dips they are almost always the first to experience a fall. I think we are seeing a blip at the moment in performance. While revenues are still very high hoteliers need to keep an eye on the bigger picture to ensure they are prepared for whatever direction the market takes in the coming months.”

This hotel trends survey has been published since the early 1970s and features a broad range of hotels in the 3 – 4 star categories.