THE number of UK budget hotel rooms continues to rise with a growth rate of 27.6% since 1998.
Deloitte and Touche’s UK budget hotel survey showed that last year, the number of rooms in the budget hotel sector reached 40,050 and the number of hotels rose by 16.6% to 682. Deloitte and Touche corporate finance leisure team assistant director Leonor Stanton said: “The budget hotel sector keeps on growing with new arrivals including operators from overseas that are bringing their budget brands to the UK.” Increased acquisition and development costs are reportedly not deterring operators and the number of rooms and hotels are expected to continue increasing.
Expected growth suggests there will be 1,345 budget branded hotels and 86,941 rooms in the UK by the end of 2003. Average room rates have increased to £58 in London and £33.37 in the rest of the UK. These prices represent an increase of 8.9% for London and 8.4% for the rest of UK over 1998 prices.