Wages are rising by more than ten per cent in some hotels according to a survey of members of the British Hospitality Association (BHA).

The BHA/Barclays survey, carried out in January among the association's members, shows payroll costs have escalated beyond inflation in over half the responding hotels.

'These higher increases are considerably more than average earnings in the country as a whole, which is unsustainable if it continues at this level,' said BHA chief executive, Bob Cotton.

He attributed the increase in wages to a severe shortage of skilled staff, and the impact of the National Minimum Wage, which rose by 11 per cent last October.

The survey also revealed that hotels in the provinces are recovering from the impact of the foot and mouth crisis and September 11, but London is continuing to suffer. Where as nearly half of provincial hotels saw their occupancy increase in the last four months, in London 84 per cent of respondents showed a drop in occupancy.