Bristol's hotels had a quiet April despite what should have been a winning combination of three Bank Holidays, warm weather and tourist interest in the royal wedding.
Figures released by accountants PKF show occupancy was up just 0.3% to 67.4% compared with April, 2010 but rooms yield fell 0.4% to £43.60 after taking into account a 0.7% drop in room rates to £64.69.
PKF's Neil Dimes said: “We anticipate the hotel sector will remain challenging with regional hotels continuing to be reliant on the meetings, incentive, conference and exhibitions sector.”
In Bath, occupancy rates were down 4.9% to 73.6% compared with the same period in 2010. A rise of 1.3% in average room rates to £99.04 couldn’t help push rooms yield into positive figures which were down 3.6% to £72.89.
In Swindon occupancy was up 5.2% with average room rates dropping by 1.3%. The overall impact on rooms yield was an increase of 3.8% to £31.41.
The biggest faller in the South West was Cheltenham, which saw occupancy rates drop 9.7% and average room rates slipping 1.1% to £50.25. Rooms yield dropped 10.7% to £31.41.
