A recent report has revealed that Bath’s hotel performance is continuing to grow, with February being marked as the 8th consecutive month of increasing occupancy.
The LJ Forecaster report from tourism market research specialists LJ Research, which tracks Bath’s hotel performance, shows that February marked the 8th consecutive month of occupancy growth as the city averaged 71.9%, a whopping 15.7% increase from February 2014.
On 10 separate nights last month, occupancy reached 80% or greater; peaking at 99% on February 14th, which coincided with the Valentine’s Day Weekend, an occasion many hotel providers in the city capitalised on.
Jonathan Stapleton, General Manager at The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa said: “Clearly Bath is becoming a destination in its own right, The most Romantic City in the UK, whereby we are seeing a shift into overnights, as opposed to in the past, the city experiencing mostly day visitors.
“This trend is set to continue, for Bath is now a credible alternative to London or indeed a must combination with London.”
There was more good news for the city’s hoteliers as February’s high occupancy rates mirrored an increase in average room rates (ARR) for the month, which rose 12.5% to £127.01.
The combination of increased occupancy and ARR resulted in an average Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) – the industry’s main performance measure – of £91.35 (up by a staggering 30.2% compared to last year).
Sean Morgan, Managing Director at LJ Research, said: “An outstanding start to the year for Bath’s hotels suggests solid, sustained growth is underway in the city’s tourism industry.
“In addition to growing volumes, hotels also benefitted from higher room revenues with average room rates in the city centre increasing by roughly 5% over the last 6 months compared to the same period last year.”
Sustained revenue growth has not gone unnoticed by hotel developers with various hotels such as Apex Hotels and YTL Hotels having properties in the pipeline.
Ian Taylor, General Manager at The Abbey Hotel Bath, said that: “There is a significant increase in bedroom stock predicted for the city over the next few years and we are optimistic that this will help to drive more interest in the city and actually serve to increase visitor numbers with improved bedroom stock capacity.”
Looking ahead to the coming months in 2015, LJ Forecaster forward bookings analysis shows that demand for accommodation is buoyant with hotels consistently registering more business on the books for the year ahead than in the previous year.
In particular, forward bookings for the next three months alone were up by 8.1% compared to last year.
David James, Chief Executive for Bath Tourism Plus, explained: “With the trend for ‘staycations’ remaining strong, we know that Bath has a rich heritage, which makes it a fantastic city break destination that combines history, contemporary culture, a fantastic retail offer and world-class tourist attractions.
“Not only that but Bath’s cultural scene is as varied and exciting as the city itself, ranging from the Bath Literature Festival to the world renowned Jane Austen Festival.
“So it’s not surprising Bath is ranked as the Best Small UK City.”
