Manchester named England’s hotel ‘hot spot’

Manchester has been named as England’s leading hotel market in new research from real estate advisory firm Colliers International.

The company’s inaugural UK Hotel Market Index examined 36 locations across the UK, ranking them according to key performance indicators (KPIs) to create a list of the country’s ‘hot spots’ for hotel development and acquisitions.

The study found that Manchester is the foremost ‘hot spot’ in England due to the buoyant performance of its hotels and the strong levels of investment creating new city venues.

Manchester was the top English city in the UK-wide rankings, coming in second place behind Cardiff. The Welsh capital received a boost last year when it hosted the Rugby World Cup.

In terms of hotel occupancy, Manchester achieved a figure of 81% in 2015 (up 2% against 2014), putting it in joint-third place with London, behind only Belfast (at 84%) and Glasgow (83%).

For hotel room supply, Manchester was the top regional location in England with more than 15.7k rooms. Comparatively, Liverpool came in sixth place with 8,233 rooms.

Elsewhere, Colliers’ UK Hotel Market Index found that hotel developments in Manchester are due to create another 2,197 rooms over the next three years, making it second only to London. Liverpool, meanwhile, is due to see a further 315 rooms added to its hospitality offer.

Julian Troup, the head of UK hotels – agency at Colliers International’s Manchester office, said: “High land prices in London mean investors are looking outside of the capital for opportunities to spend their cash.

“Consequently, the hotel market in Manchester and across the wider North West continues to go from strength to strength.”

He continued: “There is a healthy growth in trade and value in line with the wider economy, and whilst that remains stable due to supporting accommodative monetary policy, this growth should continue in 2016.

“The major North West cities of Manchester and Liverpool are seeing unprecedented growth. Occupancy is growing in both cities, indicating a supply shortage in the market. This is in spite of the fact that a further 1,073 rooms opened in Manchester and Liverpool during 2015.”

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