01Hotel Investment & Feasibility
From Car Park to Hotel: London Conversion Feasibility
Academic Feasibility Case Study — MSc Strategic Hotel Management
Should this London asset become a hotel?
100
proposed keys, Zone 1 London
60-second analyst brief
Full analysisSix parts
Context & Question
The situation, and the decision it demanded.
“Could a central London car park sustain a 100-key upper-midscale hotel — and under what ownership structure?”
A non-operating investor held the Q-Park Tower Bridge car park — unbuilt potential in a supply-constrained London Bridge corridor. The question was not architectural but commercial: what hotel, if any, could this site realistically support?
Approach
How the problem was worked.
Market first, product second, numbers last. The analysis moved through five stages — site, market, positioning, performance, decision — so the concept was shaped by evidence rather than preference.
Interactive Analysis
The evidence — investigate it.
- Location and demand-generator mapping across business, leisure, transport and events
- Competitor set benchmarking — occupancy, ADR and price-value position
- Concept and brand positioning for a 100-key select-service product
- HMA vs franchise structures — control, distribution and cost trade-offs
- Five-year projections: ADR, occupancy, RevPAR and GOP, base and downside
- Sensitivity analysis on the assumptions the investment case depended on most
What could this asset become?
A surface car park minutes from Tower Bridge: unbuilt potential in a supply-constrained corridor. The site analysis weighed plot capacity, access, visibility — and the scarcity of new select-service supply nearby.
Existing asset
Surface car park
Proposed
100-key hotel
Investor
Non-operating
Insight
What the evidence revealed.
“London demand is deep but not forgiving. The comp set rewards distribution strength and cost discipline — a branded select-service product held a defensible position where heavier concepts would not.”
Recommendation
What should happen, and why.
Proceed as a branded upper-midscale select-service conversion
Structure as franchise-style — brand distribution without a heavy HMA
Underwrite on conservative, sensitivity-tested occupancy and ADR
What This Demonstrates
The capabilities behind the case.
Feasibility connects market evidence, product positioning, operating assumptions and financial performance into one investment decision.
If I took this analysis further…
Validate conversion CAPEX and buildability
Test additional operator and brand structures
Extend downside scenario analysis