Liverpool hotels smash room sales record in 2024

Liverpool city centre hotels saw a record number of room bookings in 2024 and smashed through the 2m barrier for the first time ever. Tony McDonough reports

Municipal Hotel
Municipal Hotel in Dale Street which opened in 2023. Picture by Tony McDonough

 

New figures show more than 2m hotel rooms were sold in Liverpool city centre in 2024.

In total, 2,037,360 rooms were sold, the first time the city centre has broken through the 2m barrier. It compares to 1,975,000 in 2023 and 1,873,000 in 2022. Figures are from Liverpool City Council and this rise coincides with the increase in capacity.

There are now more than 85 hotels in Liverpool city centre with more in the pipeline. Prior to Liverpool’s Capital of Culture years in 2008 there were only around 2,000 rooms. Now that figure is close to 10,000.

In August LBN revealed that Liverpool was on track for a bumper year with 982,702 rooms sold in the city centre in the first six months of 2024. This was the second-best half year (after 2018) since the city council began collecting data in 2004.

2023 was boosted by the Eurovision Song Contest coming to the city in May but summer 2024 also saw an influx of tourists who had arrived to see concerts by superstar Taylor Swift. 

And the return of the Labour Conference in the autumn saw a record 20,000 party delegates descend on the city for several days. 

After a year in the lesser Europa League, Liverpool FC returned to the Champions League which is always a midweek bonanza for hotels. This is evidenced by October being the busiest month of the year and the best November and December ever.

In January 2023 the Liverpool Accommodation BID (ABID) was established. Representing the city’s hotels and accommodation providers it was the third BID adding to the Retail & Leisure BID and Culture & Commerce BID.

This is funded by the hotels and accommodation providers. All those with a rateable value above £45,000 within the BID zone pay a levy.

 

Labour
Angela Rayner and Sir Keir Starmer arrive the 2024 Labour Party conference in Liverpool

 

Shortly after, and with backing from Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, the ABID set up a so-called subvention fund. This is a pot of money used to attract major conferences and events to Liverpool by offering grants towards the cost.

Depending on the size of the event the grants can be worth tens of thousands of pounds. To date, £2.2m has been invested into 36 events up to 2027, with nine already delivered.

READ MORE: Liverpool hotel guests set to face £2 charge

Speaking in December Liverpool BID Company chief executive, Bill Addy, said: “What we are seeing with the Accommodation BID is a targeted strategy to convert events and conferences into hotel stays, supporting this foundation of the visitor economy.

“While a high number of visitors for events might be good for footfall, we know that there is a greater spend within the local economy when visitors stay overnight.

“Business conferences mean delegates stay in the city for longer and we see their investment converted into our hospitality sector, as well as the hotel industry.”

You might also like More from author

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Username field is empty.