MONTH IN REVIEW
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HOTELS
‘Compact hotel
rooms’ represent
nearly one-fifth of
new openings in
2018
Compact sized hotel rooms will
account for approximately 18% of all
room openings in 2018, according
to new research from commercial
property consultancy Lambert Smith
Hampton (LSH).
LSH’s new report found that the
‘compact hotel room concept’, which
typically prioritises location, design
quality and hi-tech features over r
oom size, is “gaining traction in major
UK cities”.
The report states that more than 4,000
rooms were delivered in new compact
hotels during 2017-18, while there are a
further 5,000 compact hotel rooms in
the development pipeline, indicating the
growing significance of the sector.
Overall, there has been a 95% increase
in the number of compact sized hotel
delivered annually rooms since 2016, a
figure that underlines the relatively recent
emergence of the compact format.
Nick Boyd, LSH operations director
of hotel and leisure, said: “The hotel
market is currently in a period of
exciting change and we have seen
a number of hotel groups turn
conventional wisdom on its head
and successfully operate hotels with
compact sized bedrooms.
“Not only do these cleverly designed
rooms appeal to the younger end of
the hotel customer base but they have
enabled hoteliers to provide affordable
bedrooms in high value locations.”
He added: “Hotel operators are
exploring new ideas in order to set
themselves apart from competing brands
and alternative accommodation types,
with innovative technologies and novel
room formats being adopted to offer new
experiences to hotel visitors.”
November 2018
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STAT OF THE MONTH
£5bn
That’s the rough amount of
hotel transactions made up to
the end of Q3 September 2018
INDUSTRY NEWS
Hospitality
sector faces
£113m business
rates hike next
April
UKHospitality (UKH) is warning
that a large part of the UK economy,
including hotels, pubs, restaurants,
nightclubs and cafes, face a £113m
business rates bombshell.
The inflation figures are used to
set the annual increase in business
rates, and analysis by UKH shows that
“thousands of businesses” will be hit by
rises totalling a “£113m bombshell”.
According to the group hospitality
businesses and the “millions of jobs it
supports” are in “urgent need of help”
from the chancellor in this month’s
budget, and that those hospitality are
“increasingly struggling from the effects
of a disastrous rates revaluation”.
CEO Kate Nicholls, said: “At a time
when consumer confidence is dipping,
as revealed today, now is not the time
to pile additional costs on a sector that
will result in businesses closing their
doors, lost jobs and higher-prices for
hard-pressed consumers.
“Business rates is an outdated part
of our tax system and UK business
urgently requires reform. We call on the
chancellor to announce a freeze in the
budget and introduce a new digital tax
to slash the business rates burden on
hospitality from April 2020.”
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HOTEL CONCEPTS
Whitbread to
trial new Premier
Inn hotel concept
Whitbread, the UK’s largest hospitality
group has unveiled, a new hotel
concept, ZIP by Premier Inn.
The first ZIP by Premier Inn hotel
will open with 138 rooms in the Roath
district of Cardiff in early 2019.
The new concept comes after
Whitbread conducted extensive
research that revealed guests
were willing to forego traditional
expectations – such as large rooms and
super-central locations - in favour of a
lower price.
ZIP by Premier Inn hotels will be
located on the outskirts of major
towns and cities and will feature small,
modern rooms with prices from £19.
The rooms are billed as “basics done
brilliantly” and are around less than
half the size of a standard Premier Inn
room, at just 8.5 square metres. The
rooms are compact due to its design
by PriestmanGoode – the design
consultancy behind First Class Cabins
for countless airlines including Air
France, Lufthansa and SWISS – but still
features lightboxes, flexible bed formats
and en-suite shower rooms.
ZIP’s smaller room format will
give Whitbread access to a broader
range of buildings in towns and cities
across the UK and provide a great
accommodation offer for the ultra
price- sensitive customer. Whitbread
has secured a second site, set to open
in Southampton with 140 rooms, and
is actively seeking further acquisitions
in out-of-centre locations that suit the
smaller room format.
www.hotelowner.co.uk
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