Briefing: Pipelines, predictions and provinces in the UK

According to STR’s July 2016 Pipeline Report, Greater London has the most ‘rooms in construction’ in Europe, with 5,400 rooms in 32 hotels. PwC reports that the UK accounted for about 60% of European M&A volumes in 2015. The UK continues to be a strong market, although it is not without its complications. The EU referendum and the introduction of the National Living Wage have been two issues affecting the UK’s hospitality industry this year.

In these videos hospitality experts discuss business in the UK.

Figures from STR for Q2 2016 show that the UK has experienced steady results across three metrics: occupancy (-0.7% to 78.9%), ADR (+1.7 to GBP89.71) and RevPAR (+1.0% to GBP70.82). STR analysts say it is still too early to quantify the impact the vote for the UK to leave the European Union has had or will have on hotels and the European hotel industry as a whole.

Since April this year workers over 25 in the UK have been entitled to a National Living Wage of £7.20 per hour as compared to the minimum wage (previously applied to anyone 21 and over) of £6.70. This is great for the many minimum wage employees working in hospitality in the UK, but has also meant an extra budget consideration for managers. Predictions from PwC last year showed that this National Living Wage would increase the wage bill for Hospitality and Leisure by £2.2m in 2016 and £13.2m by 2020.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: Political risk from ‘Brexit’

The EU referendum, which will take place in just under a month in the UK, has been the cause of much political debate. Fears have been stirred up about the potential negative impact of either outcome. But how has this affected investor sentiment and how would the UK’s exit from the European Union impact business in the hospitality industry?

Four hospitality and investment professionals discuss ‘Brexit’:

The referendum is just one example of how political uncertainty can affect business. Any potential disruption or change to regulations and the way business is done could be classed as a ‘risk’ that need to be factored into a business’s decision making at least in the short term.

Some examples of warnings arising throughout the campaigns, about the longer term effects of the decision, are that Leaving the EU would ‘spark year-long recession‘ and that Staying would increase the UKs population and put the NHS under “unsustainable” pressure.

Last year ICSA reported that 63% of boards said a UK exit from Europe could be potentially damaging to their company.

The European Union – often known as the EU – is an economic and political partnership involving 28 European countries. The UK’s exit from the EU has the potential to impact everything from immigration, to the environment, to procedure around working abroad, to law making itself.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Chat Button