Newmark announces its inaugural London Hotels report, providing an in-depth analysis of the London hotel market, covering market structure, supply and development, performance metrics, corporate and leisure demand, investment trends and key challenges. The report underscores London’s resilience as a high-value global hotel destination, adapting to evolving travel patterns and investment trends.
Will Kirkpatrick, Head of Hotels & Extended Stay for Newmark in the UK, commented:
“London’s hotel sector continues to demonstrate remarkable resilience and adaptability, maintaining one of the highest global occupancy rates despite shifts in corporate travel. The sector’s ability to outperform inflation and the market’s sustained position with the second-highest global occupancy rate underscores its strength as an investment class in London. Investors remain highly engaged with leisure demand surging and portfolio transactions dominating the market.”
London’s hospitality sector has proven its durability. Over the past decade, luxury hotel Revenue Per Available Room has outpaced inflation by 8.1%, reaffirming hotels as one of the strongest-performing real estate assets – even in turbulent times, including a global pandemic that forced many closures. While corporate travel remains below pre-pandemic levels, business travelers account for just 25% of hotel guests, with leisure and tourism driving 50% of demand. Since COVID-19, leisure travel from the US has surged by 75%, reshaping demand patterns and reinforcing the sector’s adaptability. US travelers, a crucial revenue source, continue to outspend European and Chinese visitors, averaging £221 per night.
The industry still faces financial pressures, however. Business rates for mid-to-upscale hotels are set to rise by 220%, while budget properties face an even steeper 290% increase, impacted by rising wage costs.
Despite these challenges, investor confidence remains strong. In 2024, 75% of hotel transactions involved portfolio deals, signaling unwavering long-term faith in the sector’s growth potential—even amid short-term headwinds. London’s hotel market remains a resilient, high-performing asset class, proving its enduring appeal to investors and travelers alike.”
Key report highlights include:
- London revenue per available room (RevPAR) for luxury hotels outperformed the Consumer Price Index (CPI) by 8.1% in the last 10 years – reinforcing the hotel sector’s strength
- US leisure travellers are up 75% since COVID-19, backfilling corporate travel demands
- London remains the second highest occupancy of all major cities in the world, even with corporate travel being 19% below pre-pandemic levels
- 75% of 2024 transactions were portfolios
- Leisure/tourism and visiting family and friends accounts for 75% of hotel guests, with business travel accounting for approximately 25%. The market may have overplayed the impact of falling corporate travel.
- The U.S. is the biggest spender at £221 spend per head per night, with the EU and China following at £142
- Business rates remain a key point of discussion:
- 3-5-star hotels could go up by 220%
- Budget hotels could go up by 290%
About Newmark
Newmark Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NMRK), together with its subsidiaries (“Newmark”), is a world leader in commercial real estate, seamlessly powering every phase of the property life cycle. Newmark’s comprehensive suite of services and products is uniquely tailored to each client, from owners to occupiers, investors to founders, and startups to blue-chip companies. Combining the platform’s global reach with market intelligence in both established and emerging property markets, Newmark provides superior service to clients across the industry spectrum. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2024, Newmark generated revenues of over $2.7 billion. As of December 31, 2024, Newmark and our business partners together operated from approximately 170 offices with more than 8,000 professionals across four continents. To learn more, visit nmrk.com or follow @newmark.
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