Will the vast increase in London’s room- stock mean cheap hotel deals for buyers after the Olympics? Don’t hold your breath, says Gary Noakes...
ONE BIG SELLING POINT that swung the 2012 Olympics London’s way was the legacy it will give to the capital, particularly the run-down eastern parts – primarily Stratford – in which the main venues are contained. Anyone baulking at the price of a room in London will also have hoped for another legacy – that staying in the capital becomes affordable due to the swathe of hotel openings that 2012 will see. This year brings an unprecedented number on the back of the Olympics, a period which has coincided with the nationwide advance of the budget hotel chains. According to the British
54
Hospitality Association (BHA), since 2002, 166 hotels have opened in the capital, of which 74 have been midscale properties. The peak until 2011 was 2004, when 24 opened. Last year saw 28 properties with 6,800 rooms come on stream, more than half the total of almost 11,900 across the UK. Some of these were re- openings, such as the re-branding by Mercure and Doubletree by Hilton of existing properties, but the majority were new builds, among them 1,054 rooms from Premier Inn and 919 from Travelodge.
A BUMPER YEAR
But this is nothing compared to what is happening in 2012. The BHA’s estimate is that 61 new hotels will open in the Greater
London area. London’s crop includes luxury brands like the Bulgari Knightsbridge and new names like ME London, a Meliá development in the Strand. However, the list also includes 21 Travelodges and another 12 openings from Premier Inn and the Holiday Inn brands. Together, these
add more than 9,400 rooms to the
capital’s inventory, an unprecedented jump in capacity.
In hotel terms,
Stratford may be the new Chelsea – Chelsea, Lower Manhattan, that is: an up-and-coming
area with good transport links. During the Olympic period, though, there are rates here more akin to those found in Chelsea, West London. A night in the Travelodge Stratford, near the