The rise in room yields was largely as a result of increased bookings.  Occupancies averaged 65 percent in March, a rise of 8.3 percent on last year.  Average room rates moved less, increasing by €2 to €103. 

However, hotel performance in March varied considerably in different countries.  Rome, Athens and Vienna were the three strongest EU markets, with revPAR rising by 17 percent, 16 percent and 14 percent respectively.  Frankfurt fared worst, recording a 21 percent decline in revPAR, while Madrid suffered a 10 percent revPAR fall. 

Marvin Rust, hospitality managing partner at Deloitte, commented: �Occupancies were destined to be higher than last year, when war cut international travel and consequently some of the best performing markets are those that fared worst in 2003.  Hoteliers in Athens have benefited from a shortage of supply, with the Government avoiding the construction of new hotels for the Olympics, appreciating these could cause over-supply problems post games.� 

�The dismal results for Frankfurt are explained largely by the absence of the ISH building fair, which took place last year and attracted about 200,000 visitors.  Hoteliers have also observed a general fall in conference visitors and the length of time they spend in the city.�

�The decline in revPAR for Madrid hoteliers may not seem as significant as expected given the terrorist bombings but as these occurred mid-month, the fall will continue into April�s figures.  However, our research suggests occupancies will bounce back fairly quickly and so we expect May numbers to be at normal levels.�

�As occupancy levels continue to grow across Europe, we should start to see rises in room rates, which will allow hoteliers to increase revenues further.� 

The HotelBenchmark Survey by Deloitte contains the largest independent source of hotel performance data outside of North America and tracks the performance of over 6,000 hotels and 1.2 million rooms every month.