UK hoteliers enjoyed a healthy festive season with growth reported in both London and the regions.

London hotels cashed in on the capital’s New Year celebrations, with room rates increasing by 6.4 per cent to £128.00 from £120.30 in 2006 despite occupancy stagnating at 73.6 per cent – up just 0.1 per cent on last year’s 73.5%.

According to hotel consultancy PKF, overall growth in room yield outside London increased by 3.4 per cent from £42.61 last year to £44.05 this year – but some individual towns and cities had much more impressive growth rates.

The rises were most likely down to festive getaways filling up the city’s hotels in order for holiday makers to make the most of the new routes started in December by easyJet and Ryanair.

Robert Barnard, partner for Hotel Consultancy Services at PKF, commented, “The healthy figures for London hoteliers over 2007, concluding with strong December figures, reflect the capital’s status as the one of the world’s top places to visit.

“Equally, the UK regional hotels have had a good year and the Manchester and Birmingham figures illustrate that, again, the December figures rounded the year off strongly. Cardiff did not have such a good month and the opening of the new Wembley stadium earlier in the year is likely to be the biggest factor affecting the city’s numbers.