London¡¯s hotels saw occupancies slump during December as the Omicron variant took hold in the UK ahead of the Christmas holiday period.

The UK capital¡¯s hotels only recorded average occupancy of 53.4 per cent last month, which was the lowest rate since July 2021, according to data from industry specialist STR.

London¡¯s hotels had been seeing a period of recovery in the second half of 2021 with occupancy reaching 66.3 per cent in November ¨C the highest monthly level recorded since February 2020 before the start of the Covid-19 crisis and the first UK lockdown in March 2020.

Despite the decline in the number of rooms sold, London¡¯s properties still recorded an increase in average daily rate to ?153.63 in December 2021 ¨C the highest monthly level for two years.?

But the high number of empty rooms in the UK capital meant that revenue per available room (revpar) was only ?82.08.

London¡¯s hotel occupancy on New Year¡¯s Eve was 53.2 per cent ¨C an improvement on 31 December 2020 when it was a paltry 17.7 per cent, although well below the 91.7 per cent recorded on the same day in 2019.