UK regional hotels run by Accor suffered from Brexit uncertainties in the first half of the year.
The French hotel giant reported “moderate” revenue per available room [revpar] growth of 1.2% in the UK with London and regional cities posting “highly contrasted” performances.
The increase in revpar in London of 4.3% “reflects a persistently active domestic tourism market” while a revpar fall of 2.1% at regional properties “was impacted by uncertainties related to Brexit”.
However, Accor reported being on course for a record year after overall first half earnings rose by almost a third.
The company reported earnings [ebitda] up by 5.2% to €375 million in the six months to June 30 with a full year profits target of €820-€850 million .
Accor added 149 hotels during the period, representing more than 18,500 rooms, to give a total of 4,892 properties.
It has a pipeline of 1,153 hotels – 202,000 rooms – with 78% set for emerging markets.
Revenue for the six months was up by 4.8% one a like-for-like basis to 1.9 billion.
Chairman and CEO Sebastien Bazin said: “Once again, Accor reported another semester of solid results, in line with its objectives set for the medium term.
“Transformed into an asset-light player, the group is now capitalising on its growth drivers – strong complementary brands that are leaders in the majority of their markets, a sustained development, leading positions in the most touristic markets and a unique ecosystem for the benefit of the group’s millions of customers and partner-owners.
“The execution of our plan and our business momentum remain on track to achieve another record year in 2019.”