Hotel development at ‘full capacity’ in Kensington and Chelsea

London’s Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has almost reached full capacity when it comes to hotel development, according to research from Colliers International.

The estate agency’s London Hotel Index found there is only 30 bedrooms expected to be built in the borough before 2019.

Kensington and Chelsea currently has 14,702 hotel rooms in 183 hotels, with the index claiming that only an extra 0.2% hotel rooms will be developed in the borough.

Colin Hall, head of London hotels agency at Colliers, said: “It’s been near impossible for hotel investors and developers to find the space to create new hotels in Kensington and Chelsea.

“The residential market has remained extremely strong over the past few years, keeping prices high and supply low, and the grand period houses that make up much of the property stock in the area is difficult to convert.

“Whilst central and west London have suffered from a lack of new supply, rising regeneration opportunities in the east has tempted hoteliers to seek out new areas in which to invest, particularly.”

The City of London has confirmed plans for over 1,900 extra rooms – which would take the borough to a total of 8,476 hotel rooms available by 2019 – and Tower Hamlets has over 1,700 extra rooms in the pipeline.

Hackney, which includes Shoreditch and Old Street within its borough, currently has only 2,200 active hotel rooms available. However, it has the most active development pipeline as a percentage of current supply up until 2019 (50%), almost double the development pipeline available in The City (29%).

Hall added: “The popularity increase in the east of London has not gone unnoticed by hotel investors. We’ve recently seen both Citizen M and The Courthouse Hotel open their doors in Shoreditch, and many other well known brands are looking to establish themselves here as well.”