Hotels on both sides of the pond count cost of recession | timesonline.co.uk
The opening of the first W Hotel in Britain next year, on the site of the former Swiss Centre in Leicester Square, will mark the arrival of a brand that has helped to redefine the luxury boutique segment in the United States. Today, however, the global recession and weak travel demand means more empty rooms and downward pressure on room rates, both in London and New York. In such a period, the American market, with a mature, competitive, branded hotel landscape, with approximately 67 per cent of the rooms estimated to be affiliated to chains and with over seven times as many rooms as the UK, provides a useful reference point.
