Scots hotels outperform UK figures on all fronts

Occupancy levels north of the Border rose by 2.6 per cent to 82.8 per cent, outstripping the figures for England and Wales.

Accountancy firm PKF, which compiles the monthly report, said Scottish hotels were not resorting to offering discounts, with rooms yield – the industry’s measure of revenue – up by 0.2 per cent to £61.41 to keep average prices above the levels reported south of the Border.

Meanwhile, Hotels.com’s price index revealed a 1 per cent year-on-year fall in the average cost of a UK hotel room during the six months to 30 June, defying the rise in inflation.

Alastair Rae, a partner at PKF, said: “This year continues to be positive for the Scottish hotel sector. Whilst an average occupancy of 82.8 per cent is very good, it is the rooms yield that is more telling.

“To have such a high occupancy level coupled with rooms yield that is almost £12 per room per night higher than the average for the UK is a sign that the sector in Scotland is doing something right. Indeed it would be true to say that the Scottish market is something of a hospitality hotspot compared to the rest of the UK outside London.”

Rae highlighted a rise in conference bookings in Glasgow and the continued strength of tourism in the Scottish capital.

But he warned that hoteliers needed to make hay while the sun was shining, adding: “I would expect the remainder of the summer to produce equally good figures for Scotland with the only proviso that the economy remains volatile. It is vital, therefore, that hoteliers push rates upwards whilst the going is good in the expectation that this may not always be the case.”