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| Hospitality Today | Summer 2018
Airbnb is not only taking market share
from hotels in the UK’s biggest cities, but
also from smaller establishments in other
tourist hotspots across the nation. The
analysis by Moore Stephens shows that
Airbnb listings now represent 30% of the
size of formal hotel and bed and breakfast
rooms in Brighton.
Moore Stephens says that its research
on Airbnb is an approximation based on
available sources and that the debate over
Airbnb and its impact would be further
enhanced if Airbnb presented its data in a
more transparent way.
Peter Duffy, Director at Moore Stephens,
says: “Airbnb is increasingly taking market
share from hotels. Hotel groups say this
because Airbnb can bypass industry
regulations allowing it to undercut the formal
industry.”
“Everyone would welcome Airbnb being more
transparent. More statistics are needed so that
the impact of Airbnb, positive or otherwise, can
be properly debated.
“Airbnb and other similar platforms can offer
significant benefits to individuals, for those
renting their property out and holidaymakers.”
“Profit hit hard” at UK hotels as
revenue falls
Profit per room at hotels in the UK fell by
4.3% in May as year-on-year declines were
recorded across all departments; meanwhile,
owners and operators continue to face the
challenge of rising costs, according to the
latest (May 18) worldwide poll of full-service
hotels from HotStats.
In addition to a drop in Rooms Revenue
(-1.2%), the -1.3% decline in Total Revenue at
hotels in the UK in May was due to falling
revenues in Non-Rooms departments,
including Food & Beverage (-2.0%),
Conference & Banqueting (-3.5%) and Leisure
(-1.7%) on a per available room basis.
The 1.2% decline in RevPAR in May was not
only as a result of a 0.2% year-on-year drop
in room occupancy, to 80.5%, but UK hotels
also suffered an uncharacteristic drop in
achieved average room rate, which fell by
0.9%, to £115.90.
This is only the second time since October
2016 that a decline in rate has been
recorded, as the ability to leverage price has
been a mainstay for UK hoteliers on the back
of punchy room occupancy levels. The first
drop was during the debilitating weather
conditions in March 2018.
And whilst the commercial sector remained
robust in May, declines in achieved average
room rate were recorded in the Individual
Leisure (-2.9%) and Group Leisure (-4.8%)
segments, which was in spite of the spike
in leisure-related demand generated by the
two Bank Holiday weekends and a range of
internationally significant events, including
the Royal Wedding.
The declining revenue levels were further hit
by rising costs, which this month included
a +0.7-percentage point increase in Payroll
to 27.7% of total revenue, as well as a
+0.3-percentage point increase in Overheads,
which grew to 21.4% of total revenue.