Nights booked in London with Airbnb have more than doubled

Airbnb bookings in London increased by 130% year-on-year to 4.62 million in 2016, according to new research from Colliers International and Hotelschool The Hague .

In the first four months of 2017, there was also a 55% uplift in the number of nights booked through Airbnb compared to the same period in 2016.

The growing popularity of the online home share site helped to see its market share of London's overnight visitors more than double to nearly 9% in 2016, up from less than 4% in 2015.

Westminster, Tower Hamlets, Camden, Kensington and Chelsea, and Hackney are the most popular boroughs in London for Airbnb, accounting for nearly 50% of all of its overnight stays in London.

By the end of 2016, the number of properties listed on Airbnb had grown by 57%, from 88,162 in 2015 to more than 138,000 properties. Of the 2016 listings, almost 54% were offered by hosts with more than one listing, up from 48%.

Marc Finney, head of hotels and resorts consulting at Colliers International, said: "It is interesting that despite the growth, we're seeing relatively little negative impact on the hotel sector. In a lot of ways, Airbnb is a different product offer, just one that now benefits from better visibility."

Jeroen Oskam, director of research at Hotelschool The Hague, said: "The lack of regulation is a concern, not just for traditional accommodation providers, but especially for cities and residents. In addition, consumers' rights and safety should be protected by regulation but if Airbnb guests encounter a problem, they have to rely on improvised measures by the platform."

Dirk Bakker, head of EMEA hotels at Colliers International added: "People are now buying residential properties specifically for Airbnb, which has the potential to dilute neighbourhoods and become a social issue for residential areas, creating transient zones."

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