22 | Hospitality Today | Oct/Nov 2015


The Airbnb effect


Meanwhile, the rise of shared accommodation platforms for business and leisure has meant more travellers are aware of the brands and the opportunities of experiencing staying in shared space.


Hall said: “In London, the numbers of Airbnb listings are increasing and this trend is likely to continue and cause localised issues for hotels, around pricing pressure and/or underutilisation, especially for undifferentiated products.


“Such an impact is likely to be felt more strongly by hotels in a downturn.”


David Trunkfield, hospitality and leisure leader at PwC, added: “New products and business models can sometimes represent a challenge for existing businesses. Every so often a new trend has the potential to change the established way of doing business and can leave some businesses ill prepared for the new order.”


Hotels in the North West sizzled this August despite the soggy summer, recording a 5.2% increase in RevPAR to £56.69, according to HotStats. Manchester was one of the big winners in the region, recording a 12.5% increase in GOP to £26.85 per available room.


August is always a peak month for Edinburgh and 2015 saw RevPAR up 6.3% year-on-year to £139.61.


European hotel transactions up 58%


Transactions in the European hotel sector have seen a big increase with volume reaching €12bn in the year to date, according to Charles Human, HVS managing director, speaking on 29 September at the Hotel Investment Conference Europe.


Human painted a positive outlook of today’s hotel investment sector, outlining the fact there had been a 58% year-on-year volume increase.


The UK, he said, had seen the biggest number of deals, with €6.8bn-worth, representing 55% of total European volume. Some €5.2bn had been portfolio deals, with well over €1bn still pending.


“The market is stronger than it was a year ago with the upturn driven largely by continued recovery combined with increased liquidity,” said Human. “We are now seeing much more interest from investors in the hotel sector and we expect this to continue.


“Since the start of 2014, around 20% of total group-owned or managed UK hotel stock has changed hands. That could rise to nearly 30% by the end of the year,” he said.


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