Guest night stays in short-term lets booked through online platforms such as Airbnb topped 90 million last year, data from the Office for National Statistics shows.
The government numbers office says rentals, for apartments or rooms, booked through sites such as Airbnb, Booking.com and Expedia Group, hit 90.1 million in 2024.
Across the UK, England hosted 70.3 million stays, or 78% of the total, Scotland hosted 11.4 million stays, 12.7%, Wales hosted 6.3 million stays, 6.9% and Northern Ireland played home to 2.2 million stays, 2.4%.
By local authority, Westminster totalled the highest number of guest nights with 3.9 million nights, followed by Cornwall with 3.4 million nights, Edinburgh with 3 million nights and the Highlands with 2.6 million nights.
The average number of nights stayed in Westminster and Cornwall was four days, compared to 3.1 days in Edinburgh and 2.9 days in the Highlands.
The numbers office points out: “Guest nights were not evenly distributed within areas.
“For instance, Hammersmith and Fulham had 899,610 guest nights in short-term lets in 2024, compared with 154,690 in neighbouring Richmond upon Thames.
“In Wales, which had 6,256,930 guest nights in 2024, 1,156,590 were in Gwynedd; next-door Ceredigion had 353,850.”
August was the most popular month for guest nights spent in the UK, notching up 12.8 million nights, 3.5 times higher than the lowest month, January with 3.7 million nights.
