Luxury hotel group De Vere has defied the poor summer weather in the UK and reported a recovery in business travel – leading to the group posting a 3 per cent rise in total turnover.

The group is also close to completing the sale of four non-core hotels it put on the market in January.

The Village Hotels in Prestwich and Swindon were sold for £6.3m – a book loss of £3.5m, while contracts for the sale of the De Vere Bellhouse have been exchanged with completion due next month. The property is expected to generate gross proceeds of £14.4m – £1.3m below book value.

The disposal of the De Vere Dormy - to be converted into a residential development - is progressing and the company expects the final price to exceed book value.

In its trading statement for the year ending 26 September 2004, the group said a cross-media leisure marketing campaign over the summer had boosted room occupancy (RevPAR) at both divisions.

Like-for-like RevPAR was up 2.5 per cent on 2003 at the De Vere Hotels and 7.2 per cent up at the Village Hotels estate.

In a statement, the group said the corporate segment also performed well and volumes in the conference sector held firm.