Plymouth has been named as a rising star in the UK hotel sector.
Britain’s Ocean City came out ahead of destinations including Glasgow and Oxford in the top five rising markets identified by commercial real estate firm Colliers in its 2023 UK Hotel Market Index.
It was ranked second in both that category and in the ratings for the highest occupancy rates in 2022 – boasting 79.7%, just a couple of percentage points behind Norwich.
The index analysed the performance of 38 UK cities across ten performance indicators including occupancy figures, average daily room rates, RevPAR growth, development costs, land prices and market appetite.
Plymouth also featured as joint third in the Development/RevPAR Index which lists the best markets for future investment potential when considering hotel performance in the region and development costs.
Amanda Lumley, Destination Plymouth’s Chief Executive, says: “It’s exciting and rewarding to see our beautiful city going from strength to strength. The results of the Colliers 2023 UK Hotel Market Index clearly show how regional cities are continuing to perform well, and Plymouth’s achievements are something we are very proud of. Plymouth has recently been spotlighted as one of the most underrated destinations in the World to visit by ‘Time Out’ magazine as well as England’s best place to live by ‘Totaljobs quality of living index’, so what better time to invest in new hotel development opportunities here in the city.”
The results of this year’s Index follow Colliers’ prediction three years ago that positioned Plymouth as the hotel market set to bounce back quickest after the easing of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
Marc Finney, head of Hotels & Resorts Consulting at Colliers added: “For some years now Plymouth has enjoyed significant demand growth, without a commensurate increase in supply. This market imbalance is likely to continue until new quality stock can be opened. While there are new projects and openings in the pipeline which will be welcome new additions, it is unlikely that those projects underway will be sufficient in themselves and there’s opportunity for further investment in the market.”
