London's crime epidemic ‘is scaring away tourists'

Telegraph

2 days ago

Tourists are becoming too scared to visit London because of surging levels of phone thefts, the boss of a £2.2bn hotel empire has warned.
Greg Hegarty, the chief executive of PPHE Hotels, which runs 51 locations across Europe, said the company had ramped up its spending on security because travellers were increasingly worried about high crime rates in the capital.
He said: 'If I'm looking at the South Bank of London, and Oxford Street, you can't carry a mobile phone in the street any more. You have got tourists now who are becoming less and less confident in coming or going to certain areas of London.'
The issue is becoming a 'major concern' for recreational travellers and corporate clients who frequently host events such as conferences at PPHE's London hotels, he said. As a result, spending on security by the hotel group has roughly doubled compared with pre-pandemic levels.
Mr Hegarty said: 'I want our customers to feel safe and valued, because it makes a significant difference. They want to know that they can sit in a bar and put their bag down, or sit in the bar and put a mobile phone down instead of being targeted by a gang.'
However, he warned that the crime epidemic was damaging the capital's reputation as a good place to visit or do business.
Robbery and theft rates have soared in London in recent years, with mobile phone thefts of particular concern. More than 70,000 phones were stolen in the city in 2024, up from over 52,400 thefts in 2023.
In the City of Westminster, reported thefts from a person – a crime that covers phone snatching – rose from around six per 1,000 people in September 2021 to more than 20 per 1,000 by September 2024, according to police figures. Beyond phones, people have also had luxury watches stolen from their wrists by gangs in the street or on public transport, or had other valuable items taken, such as jewellery.
Mr Hegarty said: 'It's for sure increasing. People are reading [Tripadvisor posts] that are saying 'I'm walking along Westminster Bridge, and I've had my phone stolen'.'
Phone theft has become a booming black market industry worth around £50m per year, with many devices thought to be shipped abroad once they are stolen.
The crime wave has sparked a clampdown by the Metropolitan Police, which said it 'stepped up' operations to catch phone thieves and bring them to justice.
However, Mr Hegarty questioned how effective these efforts were. He said: 'I have had the police force come into one of our hotels, the general manager told me, saying 'Could you give this leaflet to customers?' which says to be careful of your mobile phones and your watches.
'What are you going to do if you're a family of five checking in from the US, being given a leaflet like that when you check into a hotel? It's not what you want.'
Mr Hegarty said he believed petty crimes were being 'investigated a lot more' in other regions where PPHE does business.
'There's a lot more active policing elsewhere. When you go to Amsterdam they have got a very tough stance on certain behaviours now,' he said.
Founded in 1989 by Eli Papouchado, an Israeli property developer, PPHE is one of Europe's largest hotel companies.
It oversees a £2.2bn property portfolio of hotels, and is best known for the art'otel and Park Plaza brands. The company turned over revenues of more than £440m in 2024.
Last year it opened the doors of its latest investment, a £310m new art'otel in Hoxton, east London. The hotel sits in a purpose-built 27-floor tower complete with a 25th floor restaurant, a luxury spa and its own art gallery – with a collection that includes two works by Banksy.
Mr Hegarty called it a 'mammoth' undertaking that he hoped would boost tourism to the area and contribute to the local economy.
However, he cautioned that recent political events had dampened his enthusiasm for doing business in the UK. Mr Hegarty said the company was having to scale back its investment plans and cut jobs as a result of Rachel Reeves's decision to hit employers with a £25bn tax raid in her October budget last year.
Mr Hegarty said: 'We have had to react. We have had to make cutbacks, we are consolidating our corporate office, we are reducing headcount in hotels – which is unfortunate.' PPHE employs almost 3,000 people across the UK.
'We're overlooked and overtaxed'
The Treasury has insisted higher taxes on businesses are necessary to help plug an alleged 'black hole' in the nations finances left by the former Conservative government.
However, hospitality chiefs have been angered by the way in which the Chancellor went about raising revenue.
Ms Reeves's decision to not only increase the rate of employers' National Insurance (NI) contributions but also lower the threshold at which it is paid has hit pubs, restaurants and hotels particularly heavily because of the high numbers of lower-paid and part-time staff these businesses employ.
Mr Hegarty said: 'The Government overlooks hospitality. We're overlooked and overtaxed. If you go on your high street, you've got cafes which can't open, you've got restaurant brands which have been around for years going bankrupt, and you've got hotels closing.
'I think we've been in the worst place we've been in decades as an industry.'
PPHE still plans to keep opening hotels in the UK regardless of the tax raid. However, Mr Hegarty said the burden of increased labour costs meant it would prioritise 'select service' hotels – which rely more on technology and offer fewer amenities compared to traditional 'full service' locations.
Mr Hegarty said: 'I am not bringing a full service hotel back on to this market until I see things improving. [Select service] is a nice level of accommodation and services, but for example there'll be no room service, there'll be no kitchens, it'll be heavily automated. So for me, that's impacted jobs in the community.'
He was equally dispirited by the prospect of more tax rises in the autumn. Another raid looks increasingly likely after the recent about-turn by Sir Keir Starmer on winter fuel payments and a likely policy change on the two-child benefit cap.
The Telegraph recently revealed that Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, wrote to Ms Reeves in the spring demanding a spate of further rises – such as removing inheritance tax relief for AIM shares and changing the tax on company dividends.
Mr Hegarty said: 'It just makes London less attractive. London once was one of the global financial powerhouses, and we are having people leave us to go to Amsterdam. I can tell you now that customers I've lost in London, I've actually gained in Amsterdam.'
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: 'By intensifying our efforts, we're catching more perpetrators and protecting people from having their phones stolen in the capital. The Met is also working with other agencies and Government to tackle the organised criminality driving this trade and calling on tech companies to make stolen phones unusable.'
A Treasury spokesman said: 'We are a pro-business Government, and we know the vital importance of the hospitality sector to local communities and the wider economy, which is why we are supporting them with business rates relief, cutting duty on draught pints, capping corporation tax, and are protecting the smallest businesses from the employer National Insurance rise – which is helping to fund the NHS.'