London Hotels History

It wasn't until the 19th century that London began to see a rise in the traditional type of hotels we know of these days. Even then they tended to be much smaller in size than their counter parts across the Atlantic in America. Historically lodging in London was the preserve of guests houses (or lodging houses as they were known) and coaching inns. There wasn't a tourist industry as we see today and the rich would tend to rent accommodation rather than stay in a hotel. Coaching Inns provided two facilities for mail and stage coaches. Firstly they allowed teams of horses to be changed for fresh ones and they also served the stage coach passengers with a place to sleep and eat. Until the railway network became widespread after the 1830's stage coaches were the main form of mass transportation for the public. Today just a single example of the old coaching inns remains, the George Inn on Borough High Street in Southwark.

Some statistical background came be drawn from an issue of the Penny Magazine, a weekly London newspaper of its day. The April 8th edition of 1837 gives the following information:

In 1837 there was 396 inns, hotels and taverns in total (but not including pubs that allowed overnight accommodation for their customers).
Private guest houses numbered 34.
Hotels that were deemed to be of a high standard were called 'Palace Inns' numbered around 30. They were all located around the area we know of today as the West End. (bear in mind that at this time London was very much smaller than the area we know of today which covers the inner areas of the M25 motorway).
Examples that existed at that time were:
Mivarts (later to become Claridge's)
Mivarts at 48 Davies Street (to become part of Claridge's in 1894)
Warrens Hotel on Waterloo Place (Lower Regent Street)
Fenton's in St James's Street
Limmer's on the corner of George Street W1 and Conduit Street
Clarendon Hotel on New Bond Street
Clarendon Hotel on Albemarle Street
The Burlington on Old Burlington Street
Wrights Hotel on Dover Street

It was the Commercial Inns that could be found scattered across London.

In 2000 it was reported that London had some 1170 hotels and bed and breakfast accommodations known to the English Tourism Council / London Tourist Board. The modern rise in hotel numbers began between the two world wars.

The accommodation sector started to grow in the mid eighteenth century as the railways grew and passenger numbers soared bringing more and more visitors to London. Around the same time London became more and more expensive to live in and it became the norm to stay in hotels rather than second homes. In modern times between 1970 and 1985 the number of visitors to London increased by 50% leading to a new boost in hotel numbers. During the late 80's and through the 90's redundant office blocks were becoming common in London and led to hotel chains transforming them into Hotels. Examples include One Aldwych and St Martins Lane Hotel. By the turn of 20th century to the Millennium hotel numbers were also being driven by a surge in the conference market of which London is now a major world player. During 1980 and 2000 by far the biggest increase in room numbers has been in the City of London with a staggering rise of 1700%.

Although the first budget targeted hotels appeared in the mid 1980's it wasn't until around 2000 that this type of accommodation really started to grow substantially. Then with the announcement that London as to host the 2012 Olympics came an explosion in the number of budget oriented hotels and dedicated budget chains. These are the Inn or Lodge type hotels and the market is dominated by Premier Travel Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Ibis and Travelodge.

Modern History:
2004: First buy-to-let hotel rooms. Popular in the USA but coming toi the UK and London for the first time. Client buys a lease in a hotel room and receives normally 50% of take on that room and leaseholder gets free nights staying in the room for themselves.
2006: A good year for hotels in London with growth in the revenue per room and good occupancy levels. Changes in marketing also environmentally policies becoming an important part of selling a hotel. Marriott became the first chain to have all their hotels given the Green Globe certification for sustainable travel and tourism. Hilton also make play of reducing wastage with polices such as giving the guest the choice of having towels washed every other day to save water.
Travelodge shook up the Christmas season by cutting rates across its hotels. This bucks the years old trend to increase rates as demand goes up.
Japanese capsule style accommodation hits London from the likes of easyhotel.com.
2007: Yotel pod/capsule hotel opens at Gatwick airport in July 2007. REVPar (revenue per available room) continues to increase. On July 1st a smoking ban came into force throughout the UK. The ban was pre-empted by many new built hotels such as the Hilton Canary Wharf and Hilton Tower Bridge who were no-smoking from their opening in the preceding months. Many other hotels and chains went on to introduce total no-smoking policies after the ban.
A much discussed subject was the cost of internet access in hotels. Widely considered to be excessive many hotels actually started providing this facility for free. Chains such as the Radisson led the way with this policy in all their hotels.
The rise and expansion of branded hotels (chains) has grown to such an extent (70% of rooms in London) that a survey showed 50% of canvassed independent hotel owners said they were now in direct competition with a branded hotel and overall 25% said they were losing bookings to the large chains.
There was a large number of hotel name changes as the St Pancras International Eurostar opened and hotels that had Kings Cross or Euston in their name added St Pancras to the full name.
2008: The Travelodge chain brought a new method of hotel construction to the market. By importing pre-constructed rooms, each one within what looks like a shipping container, and then slotting and stacking them together, they are able to save around 20% in construction costs. Eve better is that they can be taken down as easily as they are put together and reused elsewhere. This method was first used for the Travelodge Uxbridge.

Historic Hotels:
Station Hotels:
As the railways grew in the mid eighteenth century so entrepreneurs realised building hotels near stations could be very profitable. It was also a prestige symbol for some railway companies to have plush modern large hotels at their stations. Examples of hotels ate the main London stations are:
Kings Cross Station: The Great Northern Hotel: This was the oldest purpose hotel in London, built solely for that use and opened on 17th May 1854 and was designed by Lewis Cubitt. The hotel is to be partly demolished to make way for the channel tunnel link improvements but the façade will be restored. The building will then be renovated and will be used for railway offices. The hotel closed its door for the last time in February 2001.
Paddington Station: The Great Western Hotel: The hotel opened on the 8th June 1854, the same year that Paddington Station, to which the hotel adjoins, was opened. It was opened by Albert the Price Consort and was most notable as being the UK's first Railway hotel. Construction on the hotel began in 1851 and was the project of its architect Philip Charles Hardwick. It underwent major remodelling in 1936 and 1938 as well as during its re-branding into the Hilton Paddington in 2002.
Victoria Station: Grosvenor Hotel: The hotel first opened in 1861, designed by J. T. Knowles in an Italianate style with a French Renaissance roof. In 1899 it was purchased by LBSCR (London, Brighton and South Coast Railway). They in turn leased the hotel to Gordon Hotels and opened again on 10th December 1900. In 1907 an extension was built which provided a new facade for Victoria station which was below the hotel. In 1977 British Transport Hotels took control of the hotel before selling it Thistle Hotels in 1983. Eventually the name 'Grosvenor' was removed totally from the branding. The hotel will always have a place in the history of London hotels as the first hotel to feature lifts, or 'ascending rooms' as they were called at the time. They were powered by using the City's water pressure.
Charing Cross Station: Charing Cross Hotel: The hotel opened on the 15th May 1865, a year after the station itself opened. The hotel was designed by Edward Middleton Barry. Most notable was the magnificent façade in a French Renaissance style. The hotel and station are built on the site of the Victorian Hungerford Market. In 1878 the hotel was further extended and then again in 1952 two more top floors were added. In front of the hotel is a 70 foot replica of the original Eleanor Cross which stood here in 1291. The cross was commissioned by the hotel and erected in 1865.
St Pancras Station: The Midland Grand Hotel. Built in 1868 and designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, the hotel was a striking red gothic structure at the entrance to St Pancras Station. The hotel closed many years ago in 1935 after being unable to make a profit and became used as railway offices. The hotel has not been used at all since early 1980's. Planned to be demolished in the 60's but strong support for the building led to it being classed as a grade 1 listed building. It became known as the St Pancras Chambers during its time in obsolescence. Re-opening in 2009/10 as the Renaissance St Pancras Hotel London.
Liverpool Street Station: Andaz Liverpool Street (originally the Great Eastern Hotel till November 2007): The hotel opened in 1884 and was later extended in 1901. Originally designed by Charles Barry and his son, Charles Edward Barry while the 1901 extension was the work of Colonel Robert Edis. During its earlier years the hotel had its own dedicated railway tracks and sidings connecting to the adjacent Liverpool Street Station which it used for supplied to the hotel. In 1997 it was closed for 3 years while undergoing a seventy million pound renovation and opened once again on 28th February 2000.
Marylebone Station: Great Central Hotel: First opened in 1899 and was designed by Robert William Ellis. The hotel was constructed in its location opposite Marylebone Station to service this mainline railway station which at that time was hoped to be part of a channel tunnel link, however that proved to be wishful thinking. During the mid 19th century the building ceased to be a hotel. During the second world war it was used as a convalescent home and later on as the headquarters of the British Railways Board. Finally in 1993 after being bought by a Japanese corporation it reopened as a luxury hotel and was called 'The Regent Hotel. Two years later it was again purchased by a new company called the Landmark Hotel Company Limited, and the name changed once again to reflect its new ownership, now being the Landmark Hotel.

Other Existing Hotels Dating Back to the 1800's
>>>Cavendish Hotel late 1700's
>>>Browns Hotel 1837 (first hotel to have its own restaurant in London)
>>>Claridges 1853
>>>Langham 1865
>>>Savoy 1889
>>>Cadogan 1895
>>>Connaught Hotel 1897

Other notable hotels:
>>>Goring Hotel: first hotel in the world to have every bedroom en-suite
>>>The Halcyon Hotel: First built in 1850 it began life as a hotel during the 20th century. Became known as the original Brit Boutique Hotel during the 90's when it was a favoured hotel among celebrities. Closed in May 2004 and converted into luxury residential apartments in 2007.
81 Holland Park, W11 3RZ

Ratings: There is no statutory scheme of rating hotels. In recent years the majority of hotels with an independent star rating have been rated by either the AA, RAC or the English Tourist Board. The RAC stopped ratings in 2005. Only in 1998 did the English Tourist Board (Visit Britain) change their criteria to match that of the AA and provide a consistent basis for ratings. However that was only for English Hotels, Wales and Scotland brought their criteria into line in 2000. The AA is taken as being the most authoritative body but it must be remembered that this is by general consensus and not by any official power or scheme bestowed upon them. The AA was the first body to give hotel ratings having started in 1912. These bodies rate only premises that have joined their scheme (and paid for the privilege of doing so) and many properties choose to be self rated. There are also two different types of accommodation given classifications, hotels and guests houses. Before 2007 guest houses were given diamond ratings, diamond ratings having a lower requirement in terms of facilities but a higher emphasis on service. However since 2007 all types of accommodation are given a star rating but based on the type of establishment the property is. In 2007 34% of London Hotels were signed up to an independent rating scheme. The average for the UK was 53%. The difference may be explained by the larger number of major chain hotels within London that use in-house ratings.

Afternoon Tea
Many London Hotels continue the long tradition of Afternoon tea which dates back to the early 1800's and was believed to have been brought about by Anna, 7th Duchess of Bedford (1783-1857). At that point in time it was the normal to have just two meals a day, breakfast and then a larger evening dinner. Afternoon tea with cakes and sandwiches filled the gap and was taken around 4 or 5 o'clock. It is indeed strange to think nobody else had, up to that point, the idea of a light afternoon meal. Today Afternoon tea is associated with the traditional style 4 and 5 star hotels such as the Ritz where its a ritual visitors to the capital book weeks ahead to enjoy.


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