U.K. hotel sector investment volumes decline by 70%

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a turbulent year for hotel trading performance, with U.K. hotel investment in 2020 declining by 70 percent year-on-year. This comes as 2021 is expected to see the beginning of a strong recovery during the second half of the year, driven by the mass vaccination campaign, according to leading global property adviser Knight Frank.

Knight Frank’s Hotel Transaction Trends 2021 research analyzes the total investment trends in the U.K. hotel sector, which saw investment volumes in 2020 total £1.8 billion (€2 billion/$2.4 billion), compared to total investment of £6 billion (€6.66 billion/$8 billion) in the previous year. Furthermore, 81 percent of the transaction volume occurred in  first quarter 2020 (£1.5 billion/€1.66 billion/$2 billion). London, which accounted for 76 percent of the total U.K. volume, witnessed a decline of 49 percent in transaction volume, with the sale of The Ritz contributing £750 million (€832 mil