Buy your own hotel room

Andrew Lockie lives in Saffron Walden, Essex, and works in London. He was fed up with having to get a train home at 10pm, cutting short his post-work nights out, so he bought a hotel room and stays there instead.

He is one of a growing number of people purchasing buy-to-let hotel rooms - a twist on the traditional buy-to-let concept that is just taking off in the UK. You buy a hotel room, but instead of tenants paying your mortgage, guests do. Overseas schemes have been around for a few years, particularly in the US, and are starting to tap into Brits' love of timeshare in sunny spots: the most high-profile hotel - a swanky Miami new-build, the Mondrian, set to open in early 2008 - advertised its $400,000 apartments designed by Marcel Wanders last week.

Andrew Lockie paid £250,000 in June 2005 for a room in Guesthouse West, a 20-room boutique hotel in Notting Hill, through GuestInvest, the UK's first - and to date, only hotel buy-to-let company. It is on a big consumer push: a new 170-room hotel opens in Paddington later this year, followed by a 200-room hotel in the City in 2008.

Lockie can stay in his room 52 nights a year, should he wish, and receives 50% of the room revenue every quarter. "I probably only stay there 20 nights a year," he says, "but we offer the room to friends and family." He receives a cheque for £4,000 to £5,000 every quarter, and he claims the value of the room has risen by around £30,000 since he bought it. Selling on is straightforward, if you can find a buyer.

The catch? The rooms have to be occupied for the investor to make money - occupancy in London is hovering around the 80% mark. If it falls short, GuestInvest guarantees a 6% return in the first year. After that, you are at the whim of the hotel market. The service charge is around £500 a year, but if the hotel needs to be refurbished, that could rocket.