London Led Europe In 2016 Hotel Stays, Even As Its Hotels Lost Value
Two recently released statistics about the position of London hotels vs. the rest of Europe paint a complex picture of a behemoth that has suffered some major wounds.
On one hand, London had more overnight guests than any other European city in 2016, with over 56 million nights spent in hotels over the year, according to European Cities Marketing. That marks a 7.3% increase from 2015, when it also held the top spot. Paris remained in second place, but saw a 9.5% decrease in overnight stays from 2015.
Even as more visitors are staying in London hotels than ever before, macroeconomic trends such as the weakening of the pound relative to the euro and Brexit-era political trends mean that London hotels have lost 14 percentage points of value against the euro, according to a study by HVS International.
Hotel values also decreased relative to the local currency in London in 2016, although considerably less dramatically. Part of the discrepancy with that decrease and the high rate of overnights could be the increase in room supply, which is set to continue in coming years.
