Guests spent about 21.9 million guest nights in London short-term lets booked through major online platforms in the year to June 2026, as the capital retained the highest total among English regions.
The London total of 21,901,250 was 5.4% higher than the 20,782,290 recorded in the previous 12 months. It was the smallest percentage increase among England’s nine regions, even though the capital had by far the largest number of guest nights.
Across the UK, the equivalent total rose by 10.2% to 104,617,530 guest nights between July 2025 and June 2026, from 94,959,330 in the preceding year. London accounted for about 21% of the UK total.
The figures were released on 13 November and compare two periods running from July to the following June. They are not figures for June alone, nor do they describe the 2025 calendar year.
What a guest night measures
A guest night counts one person staying for one night. A party of four staying for two nights therefore accounts for eight guest nights, even though it has made one booking for a two-night stay.
That distinction matters when interpreting the totals. A rise in guest nights can reflect more stays, larger travelling parties, longer stays or a combination of these. It is not the same as a rise in the number of individual visitors or in the number of properties available.
The UK figures also counted 36,386,970 occupied nights and 10,525,200 stays across the three platforms during the latest 12-month period. An occupied night is a night for which a property or room was used, while a stay records a property’s occupation under a single booking, whatever its length.
International guests and London boroughs
London recorded 15,614,090 international guest nights, an increase of 3.2% on the previous year. International guests accounted for 71.3% of the capital’s guest nights, making London the only English region where they represented a majority.
Even so, domestic guest nights grew faster than international guest nights in every English region and in each of the four UK countries over the period. Growth rates describe the change from one year to the next; they do not alter the fact that international guests made up most of London’s total.
Three London local authorities were among nine areas that together accounted for 24.5% of UK guest nights: Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, and Camden. The other six included Cornwall, North Yorkshire, the City of Edinburgh and Highland.
Westminster added 380,940 guest nights compared with the previous year, a rise of 9.2%. It also recorded 3,643,310 international guest nights, the highest number for a UK local authority. Kensington and Chelsea had the highest international share, at 81.6%.
Growth across the UK
Guest nights rose in all nine English regions. The fastest percentage growth was in the North East, where the total increased by 17.3%, from 2,463,640 to 2,888,820.
England recorded 81,079,920 guest nights in total, up 9.5%. Scotland recorded 13,303,340, Wales 7,739,500 and Northern Ireland 2,494,760. Wales had the fastest growth of the four UK countries, at 14.3%, followed by Scotland at 12.0% and Northern Ireland at 10.1%.
Most local authority areas saw an increase: guest nights rose in 327 of the 361 areas compared with the previous July-to-June period. Cornwall had the largest increase in the number of guest nights, adding 394,430 to reach 4,041,390.
Seasonal differences were substantial. August 2025 was the busiest month across the UK, with 14,143,560 guest nights, while January 2026 had the fewest, at 4,707,920. Comparing the same months or 12-month periods helps to avoid mistaking that seasonal pattern for a year-on-year trend.
Limits of the figures
The analysis covers short-term rentals such as apartments and rooms booked through three online platforms. It does not include every short-term let in the UK, and it excludes accommodation such as hotels and campsites. It should not simply be added to other tourism totals, because some activity could overlap.
The underlying data cannot be de-duplicated across platforms to establish the number of unique visitors or hosts. The guest-night totals also do not show how many homes would otherwise have been available for long-term renting or what effect the bookings had on housing costs.
The earlier-year UK total used in the latest comparison is 94,959,330. An estimate published in November 2025 put the figure for the same July 2024 to June 2025 period at 93,823,780. The latest bulletin does not explain the difference between the two estimates.
