The profitability of London chain hotels fell by almost 17 per cent in February, while London hotels generated daily profit – expressed as income before fixed charges (IBFC) – of close to £48 per available room compared to more then £57 the same month a year earlier.

Total revenue and room revenue were down by 11.3 and 10.4 per cent respectively in London. Average room rate dropped by 6.6 per cent to £108.15 and occupancy was down 3.2 percentage points to 74.7 per cent.

"Targeted discounts stimulated leisure demand, which, all things considered, kept occupancy levels reasonably high. But this was not enough to compensate for the continuing loss of high-paying corporate guests, which combined with discounted rates, meant no interruption to the negative trend," said Jonathan Langston, managing director, TRI Hospitality Consulting.

The severe winter weather at the start of the month caused a mixed outcome for the London hotel market. Some hotels were filled with stranded travellers for one or two nights, while other hotels suffered from cancellations or the postponement of functions.

Provincial revenue slide stabilises In the provinces, profitability fell by a quarter to £22.23 and total revenue fell by 11.1 per cent to £87.06 on a per available room basis. The fall in sales contributed to a year-on-year increase in payroll costs from 33.2 to 34.4 per cent of total revenue.

Average occupancy was down by 4.6 percentage points to 64.5 per cent and average room rate dropped by 6.2 per cent to £69.39 resulting in a room RevPAR fall of 12.5 per cent to £44.75.

"Perhaps the only comfort to take away from these latest numbers is that the accelerating downward trend in provincial RevPAR performance did not continue this February," said Langston.

The year-on-year falls in provincial RevPAR widened from -3.9 per cent in September last year to - 12.9 per cent this January before narrowing slightly at -12.5 per cent in February.

Air passenger traffic down by 12.5 per cent BAA, the operator of seven UK airports including Heathrow and Gatwick, handled a total of 9 million passengers in February, a reduction of 12.5 per cent on the same month in 2008. BAA said that roughly half of the reduction could be attributed to the the severe weather in the first week of the month which accounted for a loss of an estimated 250,000 passenger movements.

A further 37,000 passengers were lost because February this year contained one less day compared to 2008, which was a leap-year, the company said. Non-adjusted figures showed that the greatest fall in passenger numbers was recorded in Southampton (-20 per cent) and the least at Heathrow (-9.5 per cent).