London’s MICE industry continues to go from strength to strength in 2022 with an impressive roster of new openings and developments. The UK capital’s events industry has bounced back strongly from the pandemic with a raft of new hotel, venue and infrastructure investments in recent months.
According to latest data from the London Convention Bureau, London has seen 52 new hotels openings (7,632 additional rooms)i in the past two years, providing a significant increase in choice to event planners and business travellers. Hotel investment into the UK capital remains strong as the city’s recovery gathers pace, with 17 hotels having opened their doors in 2022 alone.
The horizon looks even brighter beyond 2022, with as many as 439 hotels already in the pipeline. These new accommodation options will significantly boost London’s hotel capacity, equating to an additional 40,745 rooms for guests to enjoy their stay in the UK’s capital city.
Exciting new venues
London is not only open for business, but also boasts a substantial array of new and innovative venues and locations to look out for. Set to launch in autumn 2022, Oceandiva London, will be the largest floating event space and first CO2 neutral event venue on the river Thames. Spanning across 3 decks, this unique blank canvas venue provides clients the ability to host large-scale events on the river, whether static or sailing in the heart of the city. Another of London’s biggest new innovations this year is Outernet London, ‘a billion-pound immersive media, music and culture district’ located in the heart of the West End. The new venue will house a huge selection of event spaces including Outernet Live, the largest live events venue to be built in central London since the 1940s, which boasts 23,000 sq. ft. of floor-to-ceiling 16k screens.
Hotel investment continues
2022 and beyond will also see the opening of long-awaited luxury hotels such as Raffles at The OWO (renovated from the former Old War Office on Whitehall), Mandarin Oriental Mayfair and Peninsula London, which will overlook Hyde Park Corner once completed in 2023. Further into 2024, The Chancery Rosewood will open in Mayfair, housed in the iconic former U.S. Embassy on Grosvenor Square.
World-famous venues and hotels such as The Dorchester are also undergoing extensive refurbishments ready to ‘wow’ and welcome guests for enhanced experiences. One of Hilton’s largest properties outside of the US, Hilton London Metropole, has recently enhanced its large-scale event spaces even further with a multi-million-pound renovation. The UK’s first Hilton, which debuted back in 1963 and overlooks Hyde Park, has similarly completed an extensive renovation of its first floor to launch a “new era” of events for the hotel, and is continuing to renovate other areas in the hotel ready for 2023.
Tracy Halliwell, Director of Tourism, Conventions & Major Events at London Convention Bureau, said: “London is a city that is always innovating and reinventing itself. It’s fantastic to see the range of new venues, hotels and experiences that have opened in London in the past few months as it brings more choice to event planners and delegates. The continued investment is also a vote of confidence in the city’s events industry as it bounces back strongly from the pandemic.
“We’re delighted to showcase the very best of London’s MICE offer at IMEX America, alongside some of the UK capital’s best new hotels, venues and service providers. As appetite for events and business travel continues to grow, there’s no better time to choose London for a meeting, event or incentive trip.”
Edwin Petersen, CEO, Oceandiva commented: “We have had great success in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany so we are incredibly excited to launch our first concept in London which we believe will be the hottest venue in the capital. London is undeniably one of the most attractive cities for overseas visitors and we are looking forward to hosting extraordinary celebrations on board. We could think of no better partner to deliver standout events on board the vessel than Smart Group who already operate in some of London’s most iconic venues.”
James Rees, Executive Director for ExCeL’s Conference & Events Team, said: “It is clear to see that the appetite for face-to-face events is back to pre-pandemic levels and has, in fact, returned far quicker than expected. This confidence in the future is one of the key reasons why we’re investing heavily in our expansion programme and London congresses held at ExCeL in 2022 have already experienced a 20% increase in delegate numbers, with international delegates representing 80% of the total attendance.
“We expect this trend to continue, along with increased expectation from organisers and attendees for events to embrace sustainability which ExCeL will support through its carbon-neutral status and focus on use of public transport via the newly opened Elizabeth Line directly connecting ExCeL to Central London and Heathrow Airport.”
Comments are closed.