Bookings Decrease, Hotels Increasing In Reykjavik

The number of hotels in Reykjavík is expected to increase significantly over the next two years. Meanwhile, the number of hotel bookings decreased this year. As such, property developers are already starting to re-think their strategies.

RÚV reports that some 200 hotel rooms have been taken into use in Reykjavík this year, and another 2,000 are expected over the next two years. Be that as it may, Reykjavík City Council has already established restrictions regarding how many hotels may be built in which areas.

At the same time, property developers are beginning to change their plans, as the number of actual bookings has not been keeping up with development. Óli Örn Eiríksson, the department manager of employment development for the City of Reykjavík, told reporters that, for example, two planned hotels for Héðinsreit are now reduced to one, and a planned hotel for Suðurlandsbraut 18 is now being re-thought.

The first six months of 2018 saw 3,500 fewer hotel bookings than there were in the first six months of 2017. At the same time, tourism has become one of Reykjavík’s, if not Iceland’s as a whole, major employment sectors. A continued decrease in bookings could spell a change of plans not only with regards to building hotels, but also in the country’s overall employment levels.