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How the headline rates compare
A four-star hotel room in the UK averages £85 per night, whilst the average nightly cost for a serviced apartment is £70. That gap widens as the stay lengthens. A studio serviced apartment that costs £140 per night on a two-night booking may cost £90 to £100 per night on a monthly booking, whereas hotels typically do not reduce rates to the same degree.
Savills estimates an average nightly rate of £90 for a hotel, compared to a monthly rate of £1,729 for a comparable serviced apartment, about £57 a night. On average, serviced apartment rates are 30 to 50 per cent less than typical hotels. In London, a studio serviced apartment in Zone 2 might cost £100 to £150 per night, whilst hotel prices in London average around £210 per night in 2026.
The real cost once you add meals, parking and laundry
The nightly rate is only part of the picture. Hotels do not have kitchens, so every meal is bought. London hotel breakfasts cost £15.06 per person, whilst a full English costs £12 to £18 in other cities. The average cost of a room service meal for one guest at a London hotel is £35.68, when taking into account service and delivery charges, with a basic club sandwich, chips and a soft drink averaging £27.90 for one person.
Car parking costs £10 to £25 per night in city centres, more in central London (up to £40). A family eating three hotel meals per day for a week may spend £500 to £1,500 on food alone that a serviced apartment kitchen would replace with £150 to £250 in supermarket shopping. Built-in kitchens and laundry facilities encourage self-sufficiency, saving on the cost of eating in restaurants or ordering room service and other hotel services.