A record number of hotel rooms are expected to open across Europe in 2021, according to data from benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights firm STR.
STR said that more than 50,000 rooms have opened so far this year – surpassing the figure for the whole of 2020, and this number is expected to grow to over 100,000 by the end of 2021.
The growth has been attributed to planned 2020 openings being delayed until this year due to the onset of Covid-19, with STR stating that there has been “limited cancellations of planned projects to date despite the significant disruption in performance” as a result of the pandemic.
Room openings for this year are expected to far outstrip the previous record of 74,852, set in 2019, and growth is forecast to continue into 2022, with openings topping 100,000 again next year.
In London several major hotel projects were delayed until 2021, including Pan Pacific London which opened this week, and The Londoner which is set to open later this month.
“The pandemic led to far more delays than deferred and abandoned projects in Europe – yes, performance has suffered during the pandemic, but many investors are still counting on the resilience of the sector,” said Robin Rossmann, STR’s managing director.
“While the impact of this supply influx will of course vary by market, there will be even greater competition for properties that have weathered the pandemic and hope to achieve meaningful levels of recovery over the coming years.
“These new openings will not be replacement supply as most properties that closed because of the pandemic have reopened.”
For our recent look at new and forthcoming hotels in the UK capital, see:
