UK’s top destinations for hotel development revealed

Colliers International’s latest UK Hotels Market Index ranks Edinburgh as the UK’s top destination for hotel development. Its active pipeline is largely due to “consistently strong occupancy and average daily room rate levels in 2018, a robust four-year upward revenue per available room (RevPAR) trend and continuous strong market appetite”. Belfast ranks second in the list, predominantly as a result of continued strong performance and low building costs. Liverpool is positioned third, mainly due to strong growth in both occupancy and ADR, resulting in the highest four-year RevPAR trend, combined with improved market appetite and relatively low land site prices. Falling out of the top 10 were Plymouth and Oxford, which Colliers attributed to land costs in the case of Oxford and a strong growth in Airbnb and alternative accommodation sectors in Plymouth. Marc Finney, head of hotels & resorts consulting at Colliers said: “Overall the UK hotel sector is in rude health. “Operating performance is holding up well in most UK markets and London continues to perform well. “The UK hotel market adds about 10,000 new rooms each year and this has increased in pace recently, with almost 18,000 new rooms expected to open in 2019.  This leaves hotels as a rare bright spot in a property market which is facing challenges in other sectors.” Top 10 UK hot spots for hotel investment and development: Edinburgh Belfast Liverpool Chester Bath London Glasgow Brighton Cambridge Leeds To send feedback, e-mail david.hatcher@egi.co.uk or tweet @hatcherdavid or @estatesgazette