Warner Leisure acquires two UK country hotels, in the Midlands and near Edinburgh

Warner Leisure Hotels, part of Blackstone subsidiary Bourne Leisure, has acquired two hotels (429 rooms total) for its portfolio in the UK: the four-star, 215-room The Dalmahoy Hotel and Country Club located just outside Edinburgh, and the four-star, 214-room The Forest of Arden Country Club, 20 minutes’ drive east of Birmingham in the Midlands. Both properties include two golf courses, leisure clubs, several F&B outlets and conference facilities. The total acquisition and refurbishment programme commitment from Blackstone is reportedly over £100 million (£233,000 per room). The acquisition of The Dalmahoy marks the firm’s first property in Scotland. The hotels are set to reopen under the Warner Leisure brand, before which they will continue to be independently operated as is. The two new properties bring the Warner Leisure portfolio to 18 hotels and over 4,000 rooms.

Whitbread acquires office building in London to convert to hotel-led mixed-use

Premier Inn owner Whitbread has acquired the freehold of 1970s office tower New London House, from UK-based Orchard Street Investment Management (who sold it on behalf of St. James’s Place Wealth Management Group), for £56.5 million. The tower, which also includes retail and F&B offerings, is located in London’s financial district, the City of London, adjacent to the Fenchurch Street underground station. Whitbread is seeking to obtain planning consent from the City of London to convert and extend the approximately 90,000 sq ft / 8,361 sqm (NIA) building to become a mixed-use development with a hotel as the centrepiece attraction.

CapitaLand Ascott Trust divests four Citadines aparthotels in France

APAC’s largest hospitality fund CapitaLand Ascott Trust (CLAS) has sold a portfolio of four aparthotels in regional France, totalling 333 rooms, for €44.4 million (€133,000 per room) to an undisclosed third party. The portfolio includes the three-star, 101-room Citadines City Centre Lille, the three-star, 97-room Citadines Castellane Marseille, the three-star, 77-room Citadines Prado Chanot Marseille and the three-star, 58-room Citadines Croisette Cannes. Proceeds from the sale will be used for CapEx programmes on remaining European assets and to fund the acquisition of three assets, The Cavendish in London, the Temple Bar Hotel in Dublin, and the Ascott Kuningan Jakarta. CLAS’ remaining portfolio in France comprises La Clef Tour Eiffel Paris and 11 Citadines across Paris, Montpellier and Lyons.

Alchemy Step acquires two hotels in Germany and partners with Marriott

Investment platform Alchemy Step Hotel Group (ASHG) has acquired two hotels in Germany, to be franchised under Marriott International brands: the three-star, 118-room Essential by Dorint Koln-Junkersdorf about 25 minutes’ drive from Cologne; and the four-star, 142-room Hotel Magdeburg Ebendorf in Magdeburg, which is situated midway between Hanover and Berlin. The Essential by Dorint is set to be renovated and to reopen at the end of 2023 as The Deutz, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel. The Hotel Magdeburg Ebendorf will also undergo a renovation programme and reopen as a Courtyard by Marriott in Q2 2024. ASHG’s platform now includes five hotels with over 700 rooms, including its recent acquisition of the Hotel NH Schwerin, whom they partnered with Marriott on as well earlier this year.

DER Touristik acquires Aldiana Club Fuerteventura, Spain, from Alfredo Morales

Cologne-based tourism company DER Touristik, owned by REWE Group, announced the acquisition of its second hotel in less than three months, with a deal to purchase the 361-room Aldiana Club Fuerteventura, situated on the second largest of Spain’s Canary Islands. The acquisition is still subject to fulfilment of closing conditions. The hotel has been operated under DER Touristik’s Aldiana Club brand for several years, under a lease from the seller, Canarian businessman Alfredo Morales, who acquired the asset in 2016 for approximately €30 million (€83,000 per room). As reported in our newsletter recently, DER Touristik acquired the Aldiana Club Ampflwang resort in Austria in July. DER Touristik took over full control of the Aldiana group in 2022.

Limestone Capital acquires the Axel Hotel Madrid from Hotel Investment Partners

Swiss alternative investment manager Limestone Capital acquires the four-star Axel Hotel Madrid in the Spanish capital from Blackstone-owned southern European hotel investor, Hotel Investment Partners, for an undisclosed sum. Inaugurated in 2017, the 88-room hotel on Madrid’s Calle de Atocha, situated between Plaza Mayor and Park Retiro, is the Swiss group’s second acquisition in Spain, following its acquisition of the Mar y Pins hotel in Mallorca in 2021. The Axel Hotel Madrid features a rooftop pool, restaurant and bar and a fitness centre.

Premier Inn acquires the BW Plus Marina Star Hotel Lindau in Germany from ImmoLeen

Premier Inn, the UK’s largest hotel brand, has entered an agreement to acquire the 99-room Best Western Plus Marina Star Hotel Lindau in Bavaria, Germany, by Lake Constance near the Austrian border, from real estate investor ImmoLeen, for an undisclosed price. The acquisition of the four-star hotel is described as a forward commitment that will close in January 2024, when Premier Inn will take over the asset on a vacant possession basis. Best Western will still manage the hotel until year-end. The property, which was built in 2017 and extended in 2019, will be adapted to the Premier Inn brand and reconfigured to feature 113 rooms, with the re-opening planned for some time in February 2024. Premier Inn entered the German market in 2016 and now has 52 hotels in operation across the country.

Indotek acquires Hotel H-Top Royal Beach in Lloret de Mar, Spain, from H Top Hotels

Hungarian real estate investor Indotek Group has acquired its seventh hotel in Spain with the 368-room H-Top Royal Beach Hotel in Lloret de Mar, a popular seaside destination on the Costa Brava, from local owner operator H Top Hotels & Resorts in a sale-and-lease-back deal. While the total transaction amount was not disclosed, the acquisition was financed with a €10 million loan from Spanish lender Banco Santander. The four-star hotel is planned to benefit from a refurbishment programme worth in the region of €4 million (€11,000 per room), to be invested over the course of the next two years. H-Top Hotels & Resorts currently operates 16 hotels across Barcelona, the Costa Brava and Costa Dorada.

The Ainscow Hotel in Manchester, UK, sold out of Administration

The four-star, 87-room Ainscow Hotel in Manchester, in the north of England, has been sold out of administration off a reduced guide price of £7.5 million (£86,200 per room) to an undisclosed UK-based property and leisure investor. The property dates from 1878 and was originally a brewery, before becoming a jam factory almost 100 years later. The Artisan Property Group acquired the property in 2003, and after major renovation works to convert the building into a hotel, it opened in 2014. The property fell into administration in 2021 when the Artisan Property Group was impacted by the industry ramifications from the Grenfell Tower disaster, as several residential buildings owned by the group had cladded facades.

Turenne Capital and BPI France acquire the Hôtel des Roys in Versailles, France

French private equity firm Turenne Capital, with BPI France as the minority investor, have acquired the three-star, 37-room Hôtel des Roys in Versailles, France, a short walk from the entrance of the Château de Versailles complex. Situated in an 18th century building, the new owners are expected to implement a renovation programme, primarily on the guest rooms. The acquisition marks the second for Turenne Capital’s Turenne Hôtellerie Professional Capital-Investment fund, with the first being the Hôtel Versailles-Chantiers, only a short distance away from the Hôtel des Roys.

RAD acquires the Seamill Hydro Hotel in Ayrshire, Scotland, from the Sweeney family

RAD Hotel Group, owned by Robert and Vivien Kyle, has acquired the four-star, 84-room Seamill Hydro Hotel from the Sweeney family, who had operated the hotel for over three decades. The property is located on the coast in Ayrshire, Scotland, about 60 kms south-west of Glasgow, and includes a restaurant, bar, wedding and events facilities, swimming pool, gym and salon. The new owners have plans to further develop the existing hotel site. The acquisition is RAD Hotel Group’s third in a year, making the Seamill Hydro Hotel the ninth property to join the group’s portfolio of independent hotels across Scotland.

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