Edinburgh hotels lead UK for Hogmanay revenue

Edinburgh hotels have reason to celebrate after leading the festive season revenue charts.

New Year’s Eve saw hotels in the Scottish capital experience the highest year-onyear REVPAR growth across the major UK markets. REVPAR, or revenue per available room, is seen as one of the industry’s key measures of performance. In Edinburgh, it grew by an average of 12 per cent, as rates reached £284 and average occupancies hit 92 per cent, according to new figures from Costar Group.

It said Edinburgh’s “growing international reputation” coupled with the city’s appeal to domestic visitors continued to support local hotels, while regulation around short-term lets “may be positively impacting” hotels too.

Meanwhile, London REVPAR was only slightly behind Edinburgh in absolute terms, while revenues saw a 9 per cent uplift over the previous year.

Looking at the UK in general, the firm noted that while Christmas tends to be a quieter period for hotels, occupancy and rates still grew during Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The weekend just before Christmas achieved the highest year-over-year REVPAR growth, however, likely driven by last-minute shoppers and getaways, it added.

Six of the major cities examined experienced REVPAR declines on an annual basis, largely due to losses in pricing.

Birmingham, Newcastle and Manchester stand out as the underperformers as REVPAR across these locations experienced a drop of more than 10 per cent. Although Liverpool hotels did not take as much of a hit, average rates declined by 7 per cent during New Year’s Eve with some losses being slightly offset by occupancy gains.