As of the latest census in 2022, Edinburgh is home to 548,000 residents and ranks ahead of cities such as Milan, Prague, Budapest, and Lisbon in the 2024 Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI). While financial services remain the city’s largest private sector—making Edinburgh the second-largest financial hub in the UK after London—the city has also developed a strong reputation in IT, web-based marketing, and fintech. Edinburgh supports a vibrant tech and software ecosystem and is the birthplace of globally recognised companies like Skyscanner and FanDuel.
The city benefits from robust infrastructure, including the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, which hosts a wide range of high-profile global conferences and summits, and Edinburgh Airport, a key gateway for both domestic and international travel. Culturally, landmarks such as Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Mile, and Usher Hall add to the city's appeal.
A major driver of hotel demand is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world’s largest arts festival, held each August. With thousands of performances spanning theatre, comedy, music, and dance, the festival typically pushes hotel occupancies to near 100% over a six-week period. Other major events—including Hogmanay, the International Festival, Book and Film festivals, and a strong summer leisure season—have helped sustain annual occupancies above 80% for over a decade. In the years leading to 2019, the average rates had started to stagnate. And like most global markets, tourism demand contracted sharply in 2020 due to the pandemic. However, a recovery began in mid-2021, followed by a remarkable surge in rate growth from 2022 onwards. By 2023, occupancy had returned to pre-pandemic levels, while average rates posted double-digit growth in both 2023 and 2024. By year-end, this resulted in real RevPAR exceeding 2019 levels by over 30% in pounds and more than 40% in euros. These outstanding results reflect not only robust demand and constrained new supply, but also Edinburgh’s rising global profile—finally elevating hotel rates to levels more befitting Scotland’s capital city.
Edinburgh has a significant hotel pipeline representing potentially around 20% of the current supply has been announced to open in the next three years and the majority are independent and still at planning stage. Some of the most notable branded hotels in the pipeline are the 214-room Hoxton Edinburgh, which is expected to open end of June 2025, the 157-room Meininger Hotel Edinburgh (Spring 2026) and the 195-room Garner Hotel Haymarket Edinburgh, marking the brand’s debut in Scotland (H2 2025). We also note the rebranding of the former 241-room Caledonian Waldorf Astoria, which became part of the Curio Collection in June 2024, earmarked for refurbishment and extension to 300 rooms by early 2026.
The city experienced robust investment activity in 2024, with 17 hotel transactions recorded. Transaction values ranged from €107,000 to €421,000 per key, including the 138-room DoubleTree by Hilton, which Pandox acquired for €58 million (€421,000 per key), the 72-room Malmaison Edinburgh City for a price of €29 million (€406,000 per key) and the 82-room Kintore House for a price of around €29 million (€351,000 per key).
Overall, our 2025 European Hotel Valuation Index indicates a value increase of over 6% in Edinburgh in 2024 compared to 2023, one of the biggest value changes across the markets covered in the study.
