The strength of the regions

Here in the UK, although London often gains the hospitality headlines, it is in the regions where the serviced apartment sector is seeing the most activity, both in terms of new properties and improvement in performance.

Up until around 2012, regional cities such as Birmingham, Newcastle, Liverpool and Sheffield were performing poorly, across the hotel market and serviced apartments. But with the strengthening of the UK economy resulting in increased business and leisure travel, serviced apartments in the regions have seen spectacular improvements.

This time last year, a Savills report noted that expansion in the regional cities is picking up pace driven by the aparthotel brands, and that the regions  were outperforming London in terms of occupancy and rate growth.

2015 has seen more of the same, and a look back at the last 12 months in our news pages shows a constant flow of new regional openings and project launches. Roomzzz, for example, has recently submitted plans for York and Newcastle aparthotels, in addition to opening in Nottingham and Chester.

And another company featured in this week’s newsletter, Staycity, is opening in Birmingham this year and York in 2016.

With the UK government planning to devolve further powers to provincial cities in order to create “regional powerhouses”, the future is looking bright for the serviced apartment sector in these locations.