The West End’s biggest budget hotel in London is to be created through conversion of the Trocadero building on Piccadilly Circus.
Work has already begun on the 583-room three star Ibis hotel, which will open in 2017 and where a night’s stay is likely to cost around £100 to £150.
Thomas Dubaere, UK managing director of French hotel operator Accor, told the London Evening Standard: ”To have an affordable hotel of this size at the most prime location of the most visited city in the world next to one of the most often taken photographs in the world is unique.
“It is so close to the theatres, to Soho, everything is in easy walking distance. You will be able to come out of your room and everything is just five minutes away.”
The design of the hotel, to be called Ibis Styles Piccadilly Circus, is likely to reflect the history of the area “with a hint of humour perfectly matching the electric eccentricity of the Trocadero.”
Accor is also turning a neighbouring building overlooking Leicester Square into a more expensive 80-room MGallery hotel, due to open in late 2016.
Both sites are owned and will be developed by property company Criterion Capital.
Dubaere said its 48 London hotels were operating at around 90% occupancy. The company has 208 hotels in the UK and plans to increase the total to 300 by 2018.