City hotel bookings soar in face of downturn

Jul 23 2008 by Barry Turnbull, Liverpool Daily Post

VISITOR numbers at Liverpool's hotels are soaring while the rest of the country suffers from the economic slowdown.

Occupancy rates for the first half of Capital of Culture year were 6.8% up on last year, while room revenue rates are ahead by 10.9%.

The increases come at a time when the city has also seen hundreds of new rooms come on stream, clearly signalling a massive boom in business.

The figures are also outstripping all other regions, and occupancy levels reached a peak of 81.1% in May – higher than anywhere including London.

Hotels like the Crowne Plaza, Radisson and Malmaison are leading the way.

Stephen Roberts, chairman of Liverpool Hoteliers Association, said: "It is pleasing to see the increase in visitors and that Capital of Culture has clearly had an effect.

"Of course, events like the Tall Ships and The Open golf are also driving leisure traffic and for us it is important that this is sustained through next year.

"The arena and conference centre are also helping to increase trade but we need to look at building business visitors as well as leisure."

Mr Roberts is manager at the Crowne Plaza, part of the Centre Islands group that also owns the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express. He said their occupancy rates were 7% ahead in the first six months while room revenue (revpar) was up 14%.

PKF Hotel Consultancy Services says Liverpool recorded the highest occupancy of all the cities in the survey, at 81.1% – up from 75.2% on the same period in 2007.