An additional 35,000 hotel bedrooms are expected to open across the UK over the next couple of years, according to a hotel review of 2017 published by property agent Fleurets.
The growth of the sector, with an additional 15,000 bedrooms in the capital and more than 20,000 bedrooms in the regions, will be dominated by branded budget hotels including Premier Inn and Travelodge. Overall, the total number of hotel bedrooms across the UK numbers currently around 625,000.
According to Paul Hardwick, director and head of hotels at Fleurets, "mid-scale hotels probably face the greatest challenges" going forward.
"In addition to this there is the growing presence of accommodation available in the sharing market and the rapidly growing serviced apartment sector."
Hardwick also highlighted that hotel transactions worth more than £5b will be expected to have been completed by the end of 2017. The 30% year-on-year increase in hotel sales were explained by "prevailing economic conditions, strong hotel trading levels, low interest rates and a wealth of capital competing for limited numbers of investment opportuntites".
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