A new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) sees the company remaining 'cautiously upbeat, but increasingly optimistic' about the outlook for the UK's hotel sector in 2014.

It says that despite a poor start to the year, room occupancies in London are currently around 81-82 per cent, a figure which means the capital is technically full for nearly six nights of the week. Despite the new supply of rooms coming on stream, especially to the east of London, the company believes that occupancy looks likely to remain at these levels. Room rates in London, whilst down from the highs seen during 2012, look set to rise again in 2014 but have some way to go to overtake the levels seen in 2012.

In the regions outside London, a decline in long term average real revenue per available room which began in 2007 looks to have been halted. From a level of 66 per cent in 2009, occupancies now stand at 71 per cent, having been rising since July last year. PwC says that this improvement is feeding through to room rates which it sees as continuing to harden through 2014.

In evidence of its optimism for the sector, PwC predicts occupancy rates in London to be up 0.9 per cent on last year, with the regions seeing a rise of 0.4 per cent. A lift in ADR (Average daily rate) by 1.5 per cent to £138.20 is anticipated in London, with the figures for the regions being 1.4 per cent and £59.40 respectively.

RevPAR (Revenue per available room) is also expected to rise, +2.4 per cent in London - to £112.80, which the report says is a record level in nominal terms - and +1.8 per cent - to £42.40 - in the regions.

The number of hotel rooms available is similarly expected to show an increase, with those in London rising by 5,644 over 2013 (4 per cent), and in the regions by 8,232 over 2013 (2 per cent)