Bristol has been named as one of the UK’s top locations for hotel investment.
The latest Colliers International UK Hotels Market Index ranks Bristol fourth as a hotel investment hot spot, just behind Oxford, York and winning destination Chester.
Bristol has risen from 12th place last year in the index, which analyses 34 locations across the UK and ranks them according to a set of nine Key Performance Indicators.
Peter Brunt, Hotels Director at the Bristol office of commercial property specialist Colliers International said: “The data in our report reveals the ever-changing nature of the UK hotels market.
“Bristol has really upped its game in the last year to make it into the top five. Of course, this is a general market index and site specific factors will lead to significant variances but the data demonstrates that London is not the only city that investors should be watching and offers a credible indication to influence their decision making process.”
During 2016 Bristol saw the opening of the upmarket Harbour Hotel in two former banks on Corn Street, and a five star hotel is scheduled to open nearby at the end of 2017 in the former Guildhall building on Broad Street.
Other recent openings include the Hampton by Hilton at Bristol Airport, which opened earlier this year, and the Hampton by Hilton on Bond Street in Bristol city centre in September 2015.
Among forthcoming openings are a 168-bed Premier Inn at Finzels Reach, and a 186-bed Radisson Red hotel at the Redcliff Quarter development.
The nine key performance Indicators used in the Colliers International UK Hotels Market Index, which was launched in 2016, are land site prices; build costs; market appetite; valuation exit yields; room occupancy; average daily rate; room occupancy rates; four year RevPAR Trend and active pipeline as a percentage of current supply and construction costs.
The ratings are then consolidated into a single figure and ranked to show which markets are hot and which are not in terms of a desirable location for investors to acquire an existing hotel or develop a new one.
Bath came in second on the survey’s Average Daily Rates index, up 8.4 per cent on last year.
Peter Brunt commented: “Bath is often at the top of buyers’ wish lists when they talk to me. It has a golden glow for buyers because of the heritage that drives tremendous tourism demand for bed spaces.”
Marc Finney, Head of Hotels & Resorts Consulting at Colliers International, added: “London is by far the largest market with almost as much supply as all of the other markets combined and has recently been a star in terms of revenue per available room. However, it is now only ranking in position 12 in our index due to slow growth in 2016, high construction costs and high land values.”
