Hotels enjoying a bright summer

Hotels in the Lake District have enjoyed a busy summer, in stark comparison to the previous year. The average room rate achieved by hotels in the Lake District for June 2013 was £101 which compares with £61 for June 2012. This is a huge increase, but we must remember that last summer the Olympics and terrible weather led to many hotels reducing their room rates in a bid to increase occupancy levels. This information comes from a survey that was run by Armstrong Watson during July 2013, specifically for hotels in the Lake District. We work closely with a number of hotels in this area and we wanted an opportunity to give hotels valuable insights into how the market was performing as a whole and also share our expertise in this area.

Our survey also found that hoteliers attitude towards the summer was positive. All respondents said they expect summer 2013 to be as successful or more successful than the year before. This is supported by a rise in margins from food and drink, which are already around 5-10% higher than the national average. Similarly, staff costs are being kept under control and represent just over 30% of turnover. This is consistent with the statistics from the previous year.

Occupancy and bookings have been consistently strong throughout summer 2013 too. At the start of July 2013, our respondents already had bookings for over 75% of their rooms for every night throughout the whole of July and August. These occupancy levels will have increased significantly with last minute bookings throughout the remainder of the summer. National statistics show that occupancy levels are normally in the region of 67% for the UK as a whole, so this shows what a sought after destination we have in the Lake District.

It’s also good to see that it’s not only those from the UK that appreciate the beauty of the area. Our survey shows that hotels in the Lake District attract a range of international visitors. Just over 60% of hotels reported having Japanese visitors, which shows the importance of our overseas visitors. Many hotels also reported having visitors from America, Australia, China and The Netherlands. 

The survey is part of an ongoing project of quarterly surveys of the industry in the Lake District and the full survey report is available free at www.armstrongwatson.co.uk/lakedistricthotels. Our survey report not only analyses the findings, but offers tips for hoteliers on attracting overseas visitors, increasing their margins, upselling and more, and is free to download from our website at any time. The next survey is due to run in the Autumn, if you would like to take part then please email help@armstrongwatson.co.uk

Richard Andrew, Senior Manager