The increase in London hotel prices is showing signs of “normalising” after rising rapidly as travel resumed post-pandemic.
Hotel rates in the UK capital soared as both leisure and corporate travellers flocked back to the city from the middle of 2022 pushing up the price of business trips.
But the latest data from CoStar, owner of hotel industry analyst STR, found that London’s hotel prices “showed more normalised levels of growth” in September following the peak summer travel season.
Average daily rate (ADR) in the city was £208.51 in September, which was an increase of 2.6 per cent compared with September 2022. But this level of monthly increase was the lowest seen in London so far this year.
London’s occupancy during the month also improved by 3.1 percentage points to 84.3 per cent, which was the second lowest monthly increase of 2023 with only July seeing a lower year-on-year rise in hotel occupancy at just 2 points.
CoStar noted that London’s hotels enjoyed their highest occupancy rate on 12 and 13 September (above 94 per cent on both days) when the city was hosting the Defence and Security Equipment International show at the ExCeL exhibition centre in east London.
The lower level of price increases for hotels in London again supports predictions by TMCs, such as CWT, that rate rises are set to become more moderate in 2024.