Swindon hotels experienced further falls across occupancy, room rate and rooms yield in March, according to monthly figures released by PKF Hotel Consultancy Services.
Direct year on year comparisons are hard to make when Easter falls in different months, which is the case between 2008 and 2009, but nonetheless the figures suggest that the economic downturn continued to affect the town. Occupancy was down 4.9 per cent on the same period last year, room rate was down 0.2 per cent and, overall, rooms yield was down 5.1 per cent from £45.85 last year to £43.85 in 2009.
Year to date figures paint a similarly downward trend with rooms yield in Swindon down 11.6 per cent to £41.31 since the beginning of the year.
Neil Dimes, partner in charge for PKF’s Bristol office, commented: “A true picture of how hoteliers fared in March is difficult to glean due to the fact that Easter fell in a different months between 2008 and 2009. The Easter break affects town and city hotels because there is always less business travel over the holiday period and as a result, many business conferences are deliberately postponed which affects occupancy numbers.
“With the Easter break falling in March last year, the figures for the same month this year should have been stronger but most hoteliers experienced falls and these would have been worse if it were not for the change in the Easter dates. The global economic crisis has clearly taken hold of the hospitality sector.”
