Yorkshire cities buck the hotel stagnation

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Panoramic view of Leeds city in Yorkshire, England. — ADOBE STOCK Panoramic view of Leeds city in Yorkshire, England.

Cities in Yorkshire are bucking the trend when it comes to hotel room supply and costs, with the UK market at large remaining flat amid economic uncertainty.

Hotels in the North have seen occupancy levels remain fairly constant, although Leeds has seen an increase of occupancy rates.

Elsewhere York still commands one of the highest Average Daily Rate (ADR)s outside of London. However ADRs around the Yorkshire region remain static at the same level seen in 2017.

Liverpool and Leeds which have seen occupancy levels increase by 3.9 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively. However the outlook for hotel trading in the UK this year remains flat as a surge in room supply, slowing global and UK economic growth and ongoing uncertainty relating to Brexit is expected to provide a challenging environment for performance growth.

Date: 19th March 2019.
Picture James Hardisty.
Possible Picture Post/Country Week.
A very swollen River Ouse passing through the centre of York, looking towards Lendal Bridge, taken from the new Scarborough Bridge, which crosses over the river.
Camera Details:
Nikon D5,
Lens, Nikon 70-200mm
Shutter Speed, 1/500sec
Aperture, f/9
ISO, 400 — Date: 19th March 2019. Picture James Hardisty. Possible Picture Post/Country Week. A very swollen River Ouse passing through the centre of York, looking towards Lendal Bridge, taken from the new Scarborough Bridge, which crosses over the river. Camera Details: Nikon D5, Lens, Nikon 70-200mm Shutter Speed, 1/500sec Aperture, f/9 ISO, 400

Looking forward there are some positive signs that investments in infrastructure together with upcoming events could help future occupancy rates around the regions.

For the first time in 20 years, England will be hosting the ICC Cricket World Cup. Hosted in cities up and down the country, including Leeds, 10 international teams will battle it out over a two-month span to become world champions.

Next year sees the UEFA Euro 2020 football championships take place, with seven matches due to be played at Wembley.

David Trunkfield, head of hospitality and leisure at PwC, said: “The regions have enjoyed solid RevPAR growth in recent years but 2019 is looking more difficult as domestic economic growth slows and high levels of new supply dampen hotel

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 19: (L-R) Chris Hughes, Becky Adlington and Harry Judd take a selfie photograph with the ICC Cricket World Cup Trophy as they celebrate 100 days-to-go to the Cricket World Cup in Trafalgar Square. The â¬Sworldâ¬"s greatest cricket celebrationâ¬ starts in London on 30 May at the Oval and will culminate on 14 July at Lordâ¬"s with the winning captain lifting the trophy. (Photo by Jack Thomas/Getty Images for CWC19)

trading.”

Total deal volume for 2018 reached circa £6 billion, a 36 per cent increase on the previous year making it the second highest ever year in terms of deal volume behind 2015 which saw a high of around £9.3 billion.

Looking ahead to 2019, PwC forecasts for deal activity to decrease by around 10 per ent to £6 billion.

Sam Ward, UK hotels leader at PwC, said: “Deal activity for 2018 was a tale of two halves. The first half was dominated by portfolio transactions with the second half dominated by single asset deals. Despite the continued

uncertainty in the market caused by Brexit, this did not deter investors and deal volume reached near record highs.

“Investor appetite has remained strong this year so far with some portfolio deals already taken place. There’s an expectation for continued inward investment from Europe and the Far East especially given the low value of the pound.”