The Hilton group Thursday spelled out the impact of the US suicide attacks on its worldwide hotels business and warned that business at its city center hotels in Europe was unlikely to improve for at least six months.
The British group, which ope-rates all Hilton hotels outside the US as well as the Ladbrokes bookmaking business, said its revenue per available hotel room was down nearly 11 percent in September and October, compared with last year. The downturn is a rapid change on the summer months, when that hotel trade benchmark of business activity was flat.
Its worst-hit hotels were the five-star Park Lane and Langham, in the heart of London's West End. Revenue per available room there was down to 32 percent, compared with 16 percent in July and August.
Hilton's European hotels were down 18 percent and its London four-star establishments saw a 15 percent decline.
Less glamorous locations in the UK provinces are proving most resilient, with revenue per available room down 2.9 percent on last year's levels.
Chief executive David Michels said: "If you are going to a conference in Coventry, then 90 percent of the guests will drive there and everything is normal. It is the overseas tourists that are missing, the guests who arrive by plane.
"American tourists account for about 15 percent of London hotel nights, but there are now very, very few US tourists coming to Britain. And there are practically no Japanese tourists, and they make up 5 percent of the London market." Hilton hotels in "gateway" cities across Europe were having the same problems.
"When will they come back? I don't know, but it won't be before Christmas, it probably won't be January or February, so we reckon it will be six months at least."
The group's airport hotels had seen a marked change. "Most of their bookings used to be made about two weeks before. Now it is two days." Michels said he was not slashing rates at his top hotels to pull in more business. "There is no point. If you gave a room to an American at the moment, they still wouldn't come."
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