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Concerts, markets and sport boost Manchester hotel trade to record month

Hotels in Manchester enjoyed a record month in November, figures just out show.

On the day of the Rugby League World Cup Final at Old Trafford – Saturday, November 30 – the city’s hotels were 99 per cent full.

November generated the highest recorded weekend rate of 93%, following October’s weekend average, matching the then highest recorded at 92%, since records logging the weekend / weekday splits started in August 2003.

The monthly average of 87% in the city centre has only ever been achieved once before and this was also in November, back in 2006.

The average for January-November 2013 stands at 77% which matches the rate of the same period in 2006, which led to the strongest annual average recorded. Records for monthly averages started in January 2000.

Factors which contributed to the bumper figures include a number of conference and business events across the city, such as the CIPD Conference and the 26th Congress of the European Association for Personnel Management, which attracted approximately 1000 delegates to Manchester Central.

Then there was the sell-out WBA boxing event at the Phones 4u Arena, when Carl Froch and George Groves slugged it out for the world super middleweight title.

Apart from the Rugby League World Cup Final at Old Trafford, other huge draws included a concert by US heavy metal heroes Avenged Sevenfold at the Phones 4u Arena, and the Christmas Fair at Manchester Central.

The city’s Christmas Markets, which opened on November 15 at nine different locations throughout, also contributed considerably to high occupancy rates.

The overall average for Greater Manchester was 83 per cent in October, compared with 81 per cent for the same period last year.

Manchester city centre had an average occupancy rate of 87 per cent last month, a one per cent jump on November 2012.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .