Aberfeldy, Perth -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/06/2014 -- AM:PM Hotels, a leading provider of market intelligence on the hotel sector in the UK & Ireland, has launched a new online database of hotel closures. The AM:PM Hotel Database now incorporates details of more than 22,500 hotels with over 1 million rooms covering the past, present and future of hotel supply in the UK & Ireland. This includes over 6,000 hotel closures, the majority of which were independent and 2/3-star on closing.

Alan Gordon, Director of AM:PM, said “This latest enhancement to the AM:PM Hotel Database adds another powerful new dimension to allow our clients to understand long term net changes in hotel supply, something that has never before been available, to this level of granularity, let alone with online interactive mapping. It’s now possible to understand which locations and segments have been most affected by long term hotel supply changes and as importantly, when and why.”

“Much industry focus tends to be on current and near-term new supply trends when making investment and strategic decisions. However, we believe that effective and sustainable planning for the future requires a true understanding of longer-term trends and evolution of net hotel supply.”

“Our research over the past 18 months has identified hotel closures spanning the last two centuries, from a time when the UK had a population of only 14 million; life expectancy was 40 years of age; average working hours were double that of today; and transportation was poor. Demand for hotels is heavily driven by economic growth and as the UK & Ireland has prospered enormously over this period to the present day, so the industry has grown significantly in overall size.”

“However, not every new hotel that was built since the 1800s has lasted. Many buildings have proven unable or financially unviable to adapt to the modern age and our research indicates almost 25% of closed hotels were demolished to enable alternative development. The majority of closed hotels have been converted into alternative use, most commonly residential accommodation but also to uses including care homes, offices, public houses, self-catering properties and student accommodation.”

“The impact of hotel closures varies significantly by region. The South of England has seen the biggest loss of room numbers, where coastal resorts such as Margate, Folkestone, Torquay, Newquay and Hastings feature prominently in the 25 locations where more than 1,000 rooms have closed. In relative terms however, Northern Ireland and Wales have been hit hardest with relatively subdued new supply in recent years resulting in a ratio of one room closed for every two in current supply.”

About AM:PM Hotels
AM:PM are a leading provider of market intelligence on the hotel sector in the UK & Ireland. The company specialises in maintaining extensive real-time data relating to hotel closures, hotel supply, future potential new hotel development and active hotel construction pipeline.

AM:PM provides a suite of online-based products that allow clients to search, analyse and benchmark the hotel sector. This includes the AM:PM Hotel Database, a unique online hotel database complete with interactive mapping functionality that contains detailed information of over 1 million rooms covering the past, present and future of hotel supply in the UK & Ireland.