Millennium and Copthorne hotels posted third quarter RevPAR decrease of 0.1% to £77.66 (2014: £77.71). In constant currency, RevPAR decreased by 1.4%.
The main contributor to the reduction in RevPAR was the performance of the Group’s Asian hotels, where RevPAR fell by 9.6% across Singapore and Rest of Asia combined.
For the nine months ended 30 September 2015, revenue increased by 3.0% to £615m (2014: £597m).
London and New York also saw RevPAR declines during the third quarter, mainly because of room closures during refurbishment at Millennium Bailey’s Hotel London and ONE UN New York respectively.
London RevPAR for the first nine months of 2015 fell by 2.8%. In the third quarter of 2015, London’s RevPAR decline slowed to just 0.2%, as more refurbished rooms from Millennium Bailey’s Hotel returned to inventory.
Most of the Group’s European hotels outside London performed better than last year over the nine month period. The main exception was Copthorne Hotel Aberdeen which was affected by the significant fall in energy prices and the consequential impact on the hotel’s oil and gas customer activity.
The refurbishments of both the Millennium Hotel London Knightsbridge and Millennium Hotel London Mayfair are expected to commence in 2016, subject to receiving applicable planning and landlord approvals. It is anticipated that the projects will require removal of rooms from inventory. The total cost for the two projects is likely to be in excess of £100m.
The last phase of refurbishment work at Millennium Bailey’s Hotel London, comprising the lower two floors and public areas, is scheduled for completion in November 2015.