Hotels Enjoyed 'Exceptional' Year

Hotels in Scotland's biggest city ended an exceptional'' year with another rise in room rates last month, new figures have revealed.

Room rates in Glasgow were up 6.3% on December 2013 among city centre hoteliers, according to the LJ Forecaster report from tourism market research specialists LJ Research.

This meant that revenue per available room (RevPAR), the industry's main performance measure, rose by 4.7% to £45.12, marking the 13th consecutive month of RevPAR growth in the city.

However room occupancy decreased slightly to 69.4% - a fall of 1.6% compared to December 2013.

Strong demand for accommodation was driven by events ranging from World Cup Gymnastics and the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year Awards to high-profile concerts at the SSE Hydro, including Status Quo, Andre Rieu and Jools Holland.

Sean Morgan, managing director of LJ Research, said: Even though fewer rooms were sold, December was another positive month for Glasgow hotels as yields increased to record high levels.

Glasgow recorded exceptional hotel performance throughout 2014 driven by a range of factors, including the Commonwealth Games and a host of other high-profile leisure and business events throughout the year. Glasgow hoteliers will reflect very positively on the year as a whole as both room occupancy and room rate growth was achieved with the latter growing by around 15% for the entire year.

These results, along with our forecast insights which show demand for accommodation demonstrably above previous years for the quarter ahead, suggest that Glasgow's strong performance is likely to maintain momentum.''

City centre hotels were also busy on Hogmanay, with 85% of rooms sold.

Scott Taylor, chief executive of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, said: The hotel sector is recognised as the bellwether for tourism and nowhere in Scotland has tourism performed so spectacularly well.

Hotel revenues grew significantly across the whole of 2014 and not just the 11 days of the Commonwealth Games. As a city with a track record in overachieving, hotel brands and investors are now buzzing about Glasgow like wasps in a jar.''