Property specialists - Savills - are predicting a huge increase in the number of new hotels which will be required following a decision to build a new runway at either Heathrow or Gatwick airports.
Demand for rooms at Heathrow could increase by as much as 71 per cent and at Gatwick by 42 per cent. This translates to an additional 4,800 rooms and 4,000 rooms respectively.
Even without extra runway capacity, passenger numbers at Gatwick and Heathrow are rising (up by 7.5 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively in 2014 compared to the previous year). The historical link between airport passenger numbers and hotel demand means that any form of expansion generates a need for additional supply.
Savills also highlight the arrival of the new pod hotel concepts at the airports - brands such as Yotel and budget boutique operators such as Bloc. Citizen M, with no presence yet at a UK airport, but which does have a property at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, is another brand they tip to watch.
