40,000 hotel bookings to be lost as European Medicines Agency relocates

London hotels will lose an estimated 40,000 bookings per year due to the relocation of the European Medicines Agency from Docklands to Amsterdam in 2019.

New estimates by retail and leisure lawyers Royds Withy King suggested the move will “have a devastating impact on the London hotel market”, as the agency’s yearly visitors take to Amsterdam instead.

The relocation of the agency will also mean the loss of 1,000 high-value jobs, the firm said.

Claus Andersen, a partner in Royds Withy King’s Life Sciences team, said: “The departure of the European Medicines Agency will leave a hole not only in our global life sciences sector, but also in the sizeable hotel market it supports.

“Each year, the agency receives around 40,000 visitors and is responsible for a similar number of hotel bookings which will now go with it to Amsterdam.”

David Israel, employment partner in Royds Withy King’s Hotel team, added: “To lose 40,000 hotel rooms effectively overnight will leave operators facing some difficult decisions. Occupancy rates, whilst high, have recently dipped given the increase in the supply of rooms, albeit revenues still remain good.

“The challenge for operators in today’s Brexit world is how they adapt to the changing and challenging market conditions – undoubtedly we will see significant winners and losers.”