UK Hotels | Central London and leading UK regional city centre hotel markets record strong first half trading performance

In Central London, a trade-off between lower occupancy levels and higher ADRs was evident, with ADR growth of 5.1%, an indication of London’s ability to command strong room rates during busy periods, but with occupancy constrained by pockets of softer demand.

Meanwhile, as an aggregate, the leading regional city-centre hotel markets recorded two-percentage points growth in occupancy and ADR rising by 4.9%. The regional cities of Oxford, Belfast, Glasgow, Durham, Chester, Stratford-Upon-Avon and Bath all outperformed the market, with RevPAR growth exceeding 7.0% y-o-y in Q2.

International arrivals at London’s Heathrow airport have remained stable over the seven-month period to July 2026, compared to the same period in 2025. This was achieved despite a 25% decrease in arrivals from the Middle East. Offsetting this decline, arrivals from Asia Pacific and the EU recorded strong growth. Meanwhile, overseas visitor arrivals to the UK’s regional airports in H1-26 are 2.1% ahead of H1-25.

Strong h1-2026 goppar growth

Turning to look at profitability, a strong revenue performance more than offset the rising costs, to bring in GOPPAR across central London hotels at 2.5% ahead of H1-2025. Meanwhile across the whole of regional UK, H1 GOPPAR increased y-o-y by a healthy 6.3% and by an impressive 12.4% across the leading regional city-centre hotel markets. This marked a complete turnaround to H1-2025, when GOP declined y-o-y.

The trading performance was supported by a particularly strong second quarter for London, during which GOPPAR rose by 5.0% PAR. Whilst Q2 growth levels remained strong y-o-y across the whole of regional UK, the rate of growth slowed compared to Q1. Leading segments in the first half of the year were London’s Luxury hotels, with GOPPAR growth rising by 5.7% y-o-y and the golf and spa hotel segment with 12% growth.

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