Land promoter The Strategic Land Group (SLG) has reported a spike in enquiries from hotel operators as embattled leisure businesses look to offload land in a bid to boost cash-flow.
The sharp rise in interest from hotels looking to sell land is another indication of the health of the hospitality sector following almost a year of enforced closure.
Research from PwC confirmed hotel occupancy is likely to remain subdued in 2021 – rates are expected to reach just 55% and could take four years to return to pre-pandemic levels.
Paul Smith, managing director of The Strategic Land Group (SLG), said: “Over the last four or five weeks, we’ve seen a large rise in enquiries from hotels who are interested in selling land – that’s something that we haven’t seen before and really illustrates how hard the lockdowns have hit hotel and leisure operators.
“Many hotel groups own a lot of land which is often very well located and will secure a significant sum for the business if planning can be obtained for development. We may also see hotels offloading underperforming parts of their business, such as golf courses or other leisure amenities, as well as underused land surrounding their resorts. It will boost cash-flow and allow them to concentrate on rebuilding the better-performing parts of their business.”
