Slow year for hotels

Recovery is still a year away for the hotel sector, according to a survey of the industry’s top executives unveiled this week.

Only 2% of 417 European hotel managers forecast a sustained upturn in 2010, the DLA Piper 2010 European Hospitality outlook report revealed. Last year, 37% of respondents predicted that 2010 would bring solid growth. More than half the hoteliers now fear that room rates will not return to pre-financial crisis levels until after 2012. More positively, China and India are seen as good potential growth markets. Prospects for hotel construction are also mixed this year following a dramatic slowdown in buildingduring the recession. One-third of respondents expect more newproperties but another third expect a fall.