Regional UK hotels performance is at an all time high having recovered ground lost due to 9/11 and foot and mouth, to name but two challenges that the industry has dealt with in the recent past, according to the Deloitte HotelBenchmark Survey January – April results. Revenue per available room (revPAR) has increased by 4 percent compared to the same period last year.

The most significant improvement is in Liverpool, in line with a resurgence on the football pitch of the cities two teams, where revPAR is up 18 percent from £39 to £45 compared to the first four months of last year.

Gatwick is the biggest winner in the airport hotel market with average room rates rising £6 to £66. In Scotland, Aberdeen is leading the way with revPAR up from £33 to £37 (12 percent).

Marvin Rust, Hospitality managing partner at Deloitte, says: “Domestic travel has driven up occupancy and room rates across the regions. All of the top performers this quarter also have local airports, illustrating the direct benefits of transport infrastructure to the regional tourism industry.”

“Although the industry is expected to face more challenging market conditions with the downturn in UK consumer spending and the slowdown of the housing market, the figures show that the customer is still prepared to travel and that hoteliers marketing efforts are successful.”

“This quarter’s results support our forecast revPAR growth for regional UK hotels in 2005 of 4.3 percent.”

Ends

The HotelBenchmark Survey contains the largest independent source of hotel performance data outside of North America and tracks the performance of over 6,000 hotels and 1.1 million rooms every month. Monthly surveys are produced on the following areas:

• Four regional rate and occupancy surveys covering Asia-Pacific, Central and South America, Europe and the Middle East & Africa.
• Ten country/city rate and occupancy surveys for Australia, Belgium & The Netherlands, China, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Qatar, UK and London.
• Profitability surveys on Germany and London.
• On an annual basis we produce profitability surveys tracking performance across all regions of the world.

For further information or details on how to join the survey please visit us at www.HotelBenchmark.com

About Deloitte
In this press release references to Deloitte are references to Deloitte & Touche LLP.

Deloitte & Touche LLP is the UK's fastest growing major professional services firm based in 21 UK locations, with over 10,000 staff nationwide and fee income of £1,246 million in 2003/2004. It is a member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a leading professional services organisation, delivering world class audit, tax, consulting and corporate finance services, with around 120,000 people in over 140 countries. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is a Swiss Verein, and each of its national practices is a separate and independent legal entity.

Deloitte & Touche LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

The information contained in this press release is correct at the time of going to press.