What Impact Did the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations Have on Hotels in London?

London received enormous global attention during H.M. the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, as the city hosted festivities over four days earlier this month.

Hundreds of thousands of well-wishers lined up along the River Thames, or along the streets between St Paul's Cathedral and Buckingham Palace, parties were held around the country, while millions more watched on television and the internet.

According to STR Global, hotels in London saw occupancy rates reach 90.5% on Saturday night (2 June) and benefited from the extended weekend to boost the traditionally low Sunday night with occupancy reaching 79.3%, an average increase of +20.8%.

"The Jubilee weekend has been a fantastic opportunity for London to once again showcase its heritage and pageantry and to be under the spotlight as a destination capable of handling large scale events," said Elizabeth Randall, managing director at STR Global. "Across all hotel segments, performance increased during Saturday and Sunday, as the festivities came to their climax. However due to the public holidays during Monday and Tuesday (4-5 June), the missing business and meeting travelers impacted the weekday performances."

Sunday night saw the biggest RevPAR growth for hotels in London. Hotels in the Economy class sector saw the largest RevPAR growth (+54.6) on Sunday night when compared to the previous year, led by an increase in ADR of 52.3% to £64.52. The Upper Midscale class increased RevPAR by 30.9% on the same night, led by a 30.9% increase in occupancy to 80%.

Sunday night saw the biggest RevPAR improvements in three out of nine London markets. Wandsworth-Southbank-Tower Bridge, Outer London and The City/Shoreditch areas reported increases of 73.5%, 43.2% and 31.4%, respectively.

The highest occupancy of the five-day period was achieved Saturday night (2 June) in an area south of the river between Wandsworth and Tower Bridge reporting 98.4%, as guests benefited from the proximity to the River Pageant on Sunday.

The highest rate of the five-day period could be found, as it is traditionally in the Knightsbridge/Pimlico/Victoria market with £227.48 on Friday night.

The rest of the week (4-9 June), on the other hand, was more challenging for hoteliers as the traditional corporate business was replaced by leisure visitors. London hotels saw the biggest drop Tuesday with occupancy declining by 38.9% to 57.6%, compared to the previous year.

STR Global tracks more than 41,000 daily rooms around London across all segments.

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