Part-time office workers are driving the spike in hotel prices

Part-time office workers are driving the spike in hotel prices in large cities, with budget rooms now costing up to £240 a night on weekdays

Budget chains are now charging up to £240 a night during the week
The surge can be seen in places such as London and Manchester

Workers who now only travel into the office for part of the week are causing a massive surge in hotel prices in big cities.

Budget chains are now charging up to £240 a night during the week in places like London and Manchester.

This is due to an influx in bookings from city dwellers who moved to the countryside during the pandemic but kept their office jobs.

Millions of Britons now spend just Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in the office – earning them the name ‘TW*Ts’. They work from home on Mondays and Fridays.

This has seen average room rates in the capital rise from £97 to £112 a night, according to hotel chain Premier Inn, while outside London prices are 12 per cent higher at £71 compared to a year ago.

Prices have also been pushed up by a shortage of hotel rooms. Analysts at Barclays said the pandemic had caused one in ten independent hoteliers to go bust

Some workers complained that three-star hotels in the capital were charging £240 a night.

Ian Acheson, a visiting professor at Staffordshire University, asked on X, formerly Twitter: ‘Why have London hotels, even the previously reliable Premier Inns, become so insanely expensive recently?’ He added: ‘Who is in three-star hotels for £240 a night? Did I miss some memo? It’s bonkers.’

One reply said: ‘It’s not just London. I was quoted £167 for one night in Chorley [in Lancashire].’

Hybrid workers are looking for ‘a new pace of life’ linked to working from home while remaining connected to economic hubs, said Chris Timbs, a marketing director at Accor, Europe’s largest hotel chain.

Prices have also been pushed up by a shortage of hotel rooms. Analysts at Barclays said the pandemic had caused one in ten independent hoteliers to go bust.

The Mail on Sunday found that booking a Premier Inn room on Fleet Street for this Wednesday night would cost £233.

The best value room within five miles of the city centre was £100 cheaper in Hackney. ‘Wednesdays are always popular for business travellers,’ a Premier Inn spokesman said. ‘You’d start seeing a drop off the further out you book.’

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