Why Are London Hotels So Expensive This Week

Last updated: 26 Dec 2025.

You've just searched prices for a few nights in London, and the numbers have made you wince. £200+ for a perfectly ordinary midweek room. £300 for something that looked half that last month. You refresh the page, change the dates by a day or two, and the price barely budges.

It's not your imagination. Some weeks in London are genuinely far more expensive than others, and the difference often has little to do with the hotel itself. Instead, it's what's happening across the city that week - events, holidays, business patterns - that pushes occupancy high enough for prices to climb steeply.

This guide answers the question many travellers type into search: “why are London hotels so expensive this week?”, explains what’s driving the rates you’re seeing, and what you can realistically do about it.

TL;DR: Why are London hotels so expensive this week?
London runs hot on hotel demand, with visitor nights and spending now above pre-pandemic levels while room supply has grown more slowly. When major events (Wimbledon, stadium concerts, trade shows), school holidays or festive weeks land on top, occupancy can jump into the high-80s or 90s and push rates up. Midweek business patterns can also make some nights pricier than weekends. Shifting your dates slightly, or splitting your stay between two areas, can often open up better-value options.

Quick answer if London hotels feel too expensive this week

One or two nights are often the culprit. Look at nightly prices rather than just the total and note which dates are much higher or sold out. It is usually one or two spike nights pulling everything up.
Events, holidays and bank holidays matter. If your week overlaps Wimbledon, the Marathon, a bank holiday weekend or December festive peaks, the whole period tends to run hotter on both occupancy and price.
Try small shifts before giving up. Test a Sunday arrival instead of Friday, or move your week by a couple of days to see if the most expensive night drops out of your stay.
Look just beyond the obvious postcode. Compare one or two well-connected hubs a few Tube or Elizabeth line stops away with your first-choice area; they can feel just as “London” at lower nightly rates.
Structure the week more cleverly. Instead of forcing one hotel to cover every night, consider a better-balanced week where you spend most nights in one place and use a second hotel just for the nights around an event.
If you are open to that, Hotel Splitter lets you search your full date range and see complete week-long options, from single-hotel weeks to simple one-change split stays, as one booking with one confirmation and secure card payment.

What to do next if London hotels are too expensive this week

Sanity check which nights are actually expensive.
Do not just look at the total. Look at the nightly breakdown and note which dates are much higher or sold out. Often it is one or two nights, such as a Saturday or a conference day, doing most of the damage, not all seven.
Use hold-and-hunt instead of freezing up.
Book something sensible with free cancellation so you have a base, then keep checking. If you see a better rate at the same hotel, or a different property that works better, cancel and rebook before the free cancellation deadline. This keeps you moving instead of staying stuck because everything looks expensive.
Move your base slightly, not miles out.
Test one or two well-connected areas just beyond the obvious hotspots, for example hubs a few Tube or Elizabeth line stops away. If the journey times still look reasonable, a short hop can be worth it for a calmer price.
Decide how to deal with the one bad night.
If one night in the middle of your stay is much higher or unavailable, weigh up your options. You can move the whole week, absorb that one night for the sake of simplicity, or use a second hotel just for that part of the stay. There is no single right answer; it depends on how much you value convenience versus cost.
Try a better-balanced week, not a block booking.
Instead of forcing one hotel to fit every night, treat your week as something you can shape. That might mean one hotel for most of your nights and another for the weekends, or a simple midweek change that works around a spike. Hotel Splitter is built for that. You enter your full date range and see complete week-long options, from single-hotel weeks to one-change split stays, in a single itinerary with one confirmation and secure card payment.

London usually runs hot - before events even start

London doesn't need a Taylor Swift concert to fill hotels. London inbound spend recovery figures from VisitBritain show that in 2024, inbound spending in the capital was up on both 2019 and 2023, recovering faster than the rest of England. Meanwhile, the GLA reports that London welcomed 21 million visits and 154 million visitor nights in 2024, with accommodation supply sitting at around 286,000 rooms - not vastly higher than before the pandemic, and with short-term rental regulation tightening the spillover capacity that once absorbed overflow demand.

That structural tightness means baseline occupancy is already strong. When something extra lands - a concert, a tournament, a trade show - there's less slack in the system to absorb it. And because the average overseas visitor stays around 7.4 nights, a single headline event often turns into a week-long trip, tightening availability across several days rather than just one night.

Events and holidays that make one week explode

Some weeks simply collide with demand spikes that push occupancy into the high-80s or above 90%. When that happens, the remaining rooms price accordingly, and the effect can be dramatic.

Take July 2025. STR's preliminary data shows London occupancy at 88.6%, with a record average daily rate of £234.58, driven by Wimbledon and Oasis concerts running close together. For Oasis's Friday Wembley show on 25 July, City A.M. reported average rates near Wembley at around £560, versus £114.83 the following week - almost five times higher for the same weekday.

Stadium concerts have a similar effect. CoStar's August 2024 figures, cited by Hospitality Trends, showed London occupancy averaging 83.9% that month, peaking at 94% on Taylor Swift's Wembley concert nights, with rates around £239. Multi-night runs mean the price pressure spreads across a long weekend or even a full week, not just the show night itself.

School holidays and festive weeks follow the same pattern. BBC Good Food notes that London hotel prices “jump up” during summer holidays, Christmas and New Year, with the average night sitting around £158 in quieter periods. CoStar's December 2023 data showed the average daily rate at £208.90, the highest December on record, with New Year's Eve reaching £287.25. And STR noted that during late-May 2024 school holidays, UK occupancy was 80.3%, with London at 79.3% - leaving fewer rooms available and pushing prices higher on what remained.

If you're looking at a week that overlaps Wimbledon finals, a bank holiday weekend with a major gig, or the run-up to Christmas, you're not imagining it: that week can be structurally more expensive than the one before or after.

Why your midweek might be pricier than the weekend

It's easy to assume that Friday and Saturday nights will always be the most expensive, but London doesn't always follow that pattern. Business travel and certain leisure behaviours can make midweek nights, especially Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, more expensive than a quiet Sunday or Monday.

Whitbread reported in mid-2024 that midweek business and peak leisure demand remained robust, while short-lead weekend demand in London was slightly softer after a very strong prior year. That means if your dates include a busy Wednesday or Thursday, perhaps before a concert or during a trade show, you might find those nights priced higher than the weekend that follows.

This is one reason why checking day-by-day rates, rather than assuming “weekend = worst”, can sometimes reveal a cheaper shape for your trip. A Sunday-Thursday stay might dodge the most expensive night entirely, or a Monday arrival might sit in a pricing valley that a Friday check-in would miss.

Example weeks: how one small shift changes the price picture

Example 1: Wimbledon fortnight vs the week before
A week overlapping the Wimbledon finals in early July can see higher occupancy and nightly rates across much of the city, especially around SW London and central hubs. The week immediately before the tournament often runs noticeably calmer. If your dates are flexible by even three or four days, you may find more availability and gentler pricing.

Example 2: Stadium concert weekend vs a clear weekend
A Saturday night during a major Wembley or Tottenham Hotspur Stadium show can push nearby occupancy towards “full” and raise prices across central zones. The same Saturday a month later, with no headline event, typically feels less pressured, with more hotels still advertising standard, non-event rates. The difference isn't the hotel, it's what 60,000 people are doing that night.

Example 3: Early December vs late January
The first two weeks of December, when festive markets and shopping are in full swing, tend to bring strong midweek and weekend demand, with higher average rates to match. By late January, once the New Year crowds have cleared and before half-term, many dates feel noticeably quieter, and rates often soften in line with that.

These are illustrative patterns, not live pricing, but they show how the calendar, not the quality of the room, drives much of what you're seeing this week.

What you can actually do about it

You can't make a sold-out week un-sold-out, but you do have levers that can open up better options:

Shift your dates by a day or two. Arriving on Sunday instead of Friday, or leaving on Thursday instead of Saturday, can sometimes move you out of the most congested night. Check how dynamic hotel pricing works to understand why even one day can matter.
Reconsider your midweek/weekend mix. If business travel is heavy midweek, a Sunday-Thursday stay might be cheaper than Thursday-Monday. If there's a concert on Saturday, arriving on Sunday can avoid the worst of it.
Stay in two areas instead of forcing one hotel through the crunch. A split stay, say, two nights near King's Cross and three in Shoreditch, or vice versa, can let you dodge a sold-out postcode on the busiest night while still staying central. You see the city from two angles, and you're not stuck paying event-week rates for every night.
Aim for shoulder weeks. If your dates are wide open, look at calmer weeks between major events, outside school holidays, and away from bank holiday weekends. The city doesn't change, the price pressure does.

Hotel Splitter can help with this. You enter your full date range, and the system shows you split-stay combinations, one check-in, one midweek switch, one check-out, in a single package price in £. If staying in two well-connected areas for part of the week opens up better availability or a better fit, you'll see it as one clear option, not something you have to piece together manually. Learn more about why whole-week prices rarely align and how a small amount of flexibility can make an expensive week more workable.

My hotel is only available for part of my stay, what should I do

Partial availability usually means there is something specific happening on the missing dates. Rather than give up on that hotel, add a second one. Use your preferred hotel for the nights it can cover and a nearby or well-connected property for the other nights. You are not hotel hopping every night; you are making one simple switch so the whole week works.

Hotel Splitter is designed around that idea. You can search your full date range and see both single-hotel weeks and one-change split stays, so you can see how a partial-availability problem can be turned into a complete, workable itinerary.

Taylor swift concert — Small shifts in dates or areas can make an expensive London week more workable.

FAQs: London hotel prices this week

Weekend rates are double, what can I do?
Start by checking whether it is the whole week or just Friday and Saturday that are spiking. If it is mainly the weekend, test a Sunday-Friday pattern instead of Friday-Wednesday, or look at business district hotels, which are often cheaper at weekends. If you want to keep weekend nights in a premium area, consider moving to a different area for the weekdays to balance the total.

My hotel is only available for part of my stay, what should I do?
Partial availability is common during busy weeks. Rather than abandoning that hotel, use a second one. Stay at your preferred hotel for the nights it can cover and a nearby or well-connected property for the other nights. A simple one-change week is easier to manage than it sounds and solves the gap without starting from scratch.

Is it cheaper to book two different hotels instead of one?
Sometimes, especially when your week crosses both expensive nights and cheaper nights, or when business districts are much better value at weekends. Other times the difference is small. Use your search tool to compare a single-hotel week with a one-change structure and see how much difference it makes for your specific dates.

Do people switch hotels mid-stay to save money?
Yes. Many travellers switch hotels once in the middle of a city trip to work around price spikes, move closer to an event or handle partial availability. It is not unusual as long as the hotels are a short hop apart and you plan the move around check-in and check-out times.

Should I stay further out or pay more to be central?
It depends on the area and the transport links. A well-connected Zone 2 or 3 base near the Elizabeth line or a major Tube hub can feel almost as convenient as the West End at a lower nightly rate. A poorly connected area is rarely worth it, however cheap it looks. Always check journey times to the places you expect to visit most.

Is London always this expensive?
Not always, but it runs hot more often than many cities. Baseline demand is strong year-round, so when events or holidays land, prices climb quickly. Shoulder weeks between major events can be noticeably calmer.

How far should I move my dates to see a difference?
Sometimes just one or two nights is enough, especially if you're shifting away from a Saturday concert night or a bank holiday Monday. Other times, moving by a full week (to before or after a tournament or school holiday) makes the bigger difference. Check day-by-day pricing to see where the peak actually sits.

Are prices higher this week because of [X concert / marathon / event]? 🎤
Very likely, yes. Major stadium shows, Wimbledon, the London Marathon, and large trade shows all push occupancy above normal levels, which tightens availability and lifts rates. If your week overlaps one of these, that's almost certainly why you're seeing the numbers you are.

Should I just wait and book closer to my dates?
For event weeks and school holidays, last-minute availability is often very limited and even more expensive. If you've found something workable now, and the dates matter to you, it's usually safer to book than to wait and hope. For genuinely quiet weeks, last-minute deals can sometimes appear, but that's the exception, not the rule.

Ready to make this week work for you?

If the week you're looking at is expensive, start by checking what's on: concerts, tournaments, school holidays, bank holidays. Then see if shifting a night or two, or staying in two connected areas, opens up better options. Small moves in the calendar or on the map can make a big difference to what's available and what it costs.

See flexible London hotel options that let you compare single-hotel and split-stay packages side by side, all in one search.