Hotels in London - Hotels in Modern London

Hotels in Modern London

There is no official registry of hotel rooms in London, but the estimated number of hotel rooms in Greater London in 2000 was put at 101,269. According to figures produced in support of London's 2012 Olympic bid, there were more than 70,000 three to five star hotel rooms within 10 kilometres of Central London in 2003. Interestingly the main growth was a huge rise in the number of rooms within the City of London, while Kensington and Chelsea actually had a small fall. This is comparing figures since 1981. The main concentration of luxury hotels is in the West End, especially in Mayfair. London's five star hotels are quite small on average by international standards. The largest has only 494 rooms and nine of them have fifty or fewer. The range is very wide, including:

• Traditional purpose-built grand hotels such as the Ritz, the Savoy and the Dorchester.
• Recent conversions of grand late 19th and early 20th century office buildings into hotels such as One Aldwych and the Renaissance Chancery Court.
• Townhouse hotels such as 13 Half Moon Street.
• Modern purpose-built chain hotels such as the Four Seasons London and the London Hilton on Park Lane.
• Modern boutique designer hotels such as the St Martins Lane Hotel.

Currently the most profitable hotels and those with the most consistently high room occupancies are hotels around the 5 major London airports. Heathrow and Gatwick are performing the best and becoming meeting and conference centres in their own right.

2006 was the year that environmentally friendly hotels started to become a marketing tool. Among the first to achieve certified levels were the Novotel London West and all the Marriott properties in the capital.

By the end of 2006 the boom in branded hotels which started around 2002 was well under way, with branded rooms accounting for around 70% of available accommodation at 71,000 rooms.

2007 saw the start of a building boom for purpose built hotels in the lead-up to the 2012 Olympic games in east London. Hotels are planned throughout London including at the new Wembley Stadium and around Docklands area. Many of these will be in the 4 and 5 star bracket supplementing the 2/3 star boom already ongoing with the likes of Ibis and Premier Travel Inn.