MANCHESTER hotels have achieved their busiest year ever for a second year on the bounce.
The most lucrative day for Manchester hotels last year was Saturday 5 December
According to new figures from hotel industry analysts STR Global, both Manchester city centre and the Greater Manchester region reached annual occupancy rates of 80% in 2015, made all the more impressive taking into consideration the 800 new hotel rooms delivered last year.
The record year represents a third year of growth for the city’s hotel industry, with 77% and 79% city centre occupancy in 2013 and 2014 respectively, 76% and 77% across the wider region.
And with many new large hotel projects on the way, including the Hilton at Old Trafford, the Intercontinental on Oxford Road and the Manchester Grande at St John’s, current pipeline figures predict a further 3000 rooms could be built by 2018.
The newly launched King Street Townhouse hotel
Nick Brooks-Sykes, Director of Tourism at Marketing Manchester, said: “These figures are a real testament to the strength of Greater Manchester’s hotel and tourism industries as occupancy rates continue to grow, even in the face of so many new hotels joining the market.
“We’ve been saying for some time that 2015 was a standout year for tourism - we had the re-opening of the Whitworth, the opening of HOME and some fantastic events like the Manchester International Festival, Manchester Pride’s 25th anniversary and a huge rugby weekend in October – so it’s great to see our expectations confirmed with some hard data.”
According to STR data, the most lucrative day for Manchester hotels last year was Saturday 5 December, when a Manchester United game versus West Ham, a Star Wars convention and a Faithless gig at the Arena led to a 96% occupancy peak.
