A record month for hotels thanks to Justin Bieber Pop star helps fill rooms across the city
AMERCIAN pop star Justin Bieber helped Birmingham’s hotels post record occupancy rates in October.
The city’s hotels recorded an average occupancy rate of 81 per cent, boosted by the Conservative Party Conference, Great Birmingham Run half marathon, Grand Designs Live at the NEC and three Justin Bieber concerts.
The figures, released by Marketing Birmingham’s Regional Observatory in collaboration with travel research company STR Global, are 0.6 per cent higher than the previous best October (80.8 per cent), achieved in 2015.
Birmingham’s October 2016 occupancy rates (81.4 per cent) also showed a 0.5 per cent increase compared with the UK average (80.9 per cent).
The busiest night of the month was October 18 when more than 97 per cent of the city’s hotel rooms were filled, thanks in part to the second of three concerts by Bieber and the start of the Grand Designs Live exhibition.
Birmingham City Council leader Cllr John Clancy said: “Birmingham’s hotels are thriving, with the city benefiting from increasing numbers of visitors and welcoming more highprofile events across the political, sporting and cultural spectrum. The city’s hoteliers saw a ten per cent rise in occupancy at the start of October as Birmingham successfully hosted its 13th major political conference since 2008, while revenue per available room has also risen significantly to a six-anda-half-year high.
“Perceptions of Birmingham as a leading tourism and business destination continue to grow and, with the city proving a firm favourite over the festive period, 2016 is on course to be our accommodation sector’s busiest year.”
Occupancy rates also hit 96 per cent on October 3, which was the second day of the Conservative Party Conference at the International Convention Centre, and also on the eve of the Great Birmingham Run on October 15.
The annual race saw people take part.
Revenue per available room (RevPAR) – the performance metric used to evaluate a hotel’s performance – also rose to £62. This was the highest figure in Birmingham since May 2010. 20,000