EMEA Hospitality Newsletter – Week Ending 4 August 2017 (August 5, 2017)

Leonardo Acquires Scotland’s Portland Hotels Portfolio

Leonardo Hotels has increased its presence in the UK to seven hotels (1,048 guest rooms) by purchasing the Portland Hotels portfolio, which comprises five hotels across Scotland (536 guest rooms), for an undisclosed sum. The 52-room Edinburgh City Hotel and the 111-room Edinburgh Capital will increase Leonardo’s stock in the Scottish capital to three hotels (445 guest rooms). The 137-room Glasgow Pond Hotel, in Scotland’s largest city; the 34-room Huntingtower Hotel, in Perth; and the 202-room Speedbird Inn, adjacent to Aberdeen Airport, will mark Leonardo’s debut in these locations.

Investment Fund Headed by Sir David Michels Acquires Two UK Hotels

A fund headed by the former chief executive of Hilton, Sir David Michels, has purchased the 99-room Abbey Hotel in Redditch and the 117-room Lea Marston Hotel in Sutton Coldfield off a guide price of £23 million from RSM Leisure. The fund also owns the 152-room DoubleTree by Hilton Cheltenham, which was purchased in 2015 off a guide price of £8 million. Sir David launched the £200 million fund in 2014 to target hotel investments in the UK and mainland Europe.

Wyndham Worldwide to Become Two Publicly Traded Companies

Wyndham Worldwide has announced plans to spin off its hotel business, which will result in a split into two publicly traded hospitality companies. New Jersey-based Wyndham Hotel Group is to become the publicly traded Pure-Place Hotel Company and Florida-based Wyndham Vacation Ownership will be the world’s largest publicly traded timeshare business and will be joined with Wyndham Destination Network, home to RCI, the world’s largest holiday timeshare company. Both the new companies will enter into long-term agreements to retain their Wyndham Rewards partnerships. The corporate names for the new post-spin companies have not yet been decided. “After a comprehensive review process, the Board of Directors has determined that a spin-off of the hotel business and the combination of Wyndham Vacation Ownership with RCI is the best structure to unlock shareholder value and enable strong growth across the businesses,” said Stephen P Holmes, Wyndham Worldwide’s chairman and chief executive officer.

Art-Invest Real Estate to Develop a Hotel in Florence

Cologne-based Art-Invest Real Estate has acquired a group of 18th-century buildings in Florence city centre, in Italy’s Tuscany region, for an undisclosed sum in which it plans to develop a 170-key lifestyle hotel. The project, which will be the group’s first hotel in Italy, comprises restoring the three existing buildings and constructing a new one to create a 10,750 m² of usable floor space. Work is expected to start on the development this month.

A Second Principal for Edinburgh

After emerging from a £25 million refurbishment, the Roxburghe Hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland, is to be rebranded in September as the Principal Edinburgh Charlotte Square. The 199-room hotel, which is housed in a 19th-century Georgian building, will be the fourth property to join Starwood Capital’s city centre lifestyle Principal Hotels chain, which was launched in November 2016. The Charlotte Square hotel is Principal Hotels’ second property in Edinburgh, joining its sister property on George Street. The other three Principals already in operation are in Manchester and York, and the flagship 330-room Principal London, on Russell Square, is scheduled to open later this year, followed by other hotels in Glasgow, Cardiff, Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham.

Rezidor and prizeotel Announce Fourth Joint Project

Through their joint venture, The Rezidor Hotel Group and prizeotel have signed a new property for the city of Münster in western Germany. The prizeotel Münster-City is expected to open in 2020 a short walk away from the city centre and close to Münster’s main railway station. The 195-room hotel will be part of a three-building mixed-use complex also including retail and restaurant outlets, office space and student accommodation. The prizeotel Münster-City is the fourth joint project to be signed between Rezidor and prizeotel, with prizeotel properties in Erfurt, Bern and Munich due to open in 2019.

Ibis Styles Makes its Bahrain Debut

AccorHotel’s ibis Styles brand has made its first appearance in Bahrain with the opening of the ibis Styles Manama Diplomatic Area. The 95-key hotel is the second ibis-branded property in the country, joining the 304-room ibis Seef Manama, both of which are owned by Action Hotels. AccorHotels now has six hotels overall in operation or under development across Bahrain.

Absolute Share Price Performance Over the Past Week – 27 July-3 August 2017

 

Wyndham Worldwide – Second-quarter revenue amounted to US$1.5 billion, up 5% on the same period in 2016.

InterContinental Hotels Group – Deutsche Bank reaffirmed its "hold" investment rating and raised the price target to 4,000p (from 3,500p.

Disclaimer: Information provided above has been gathered from various market sources. HVS has not independently verified the accuracy of the information provided. Interested parties should not rely on the information as statement of facts and are advised to make their own independent checks to verify the information provided. For further information, please feel free to contact HVS London.

Superior Results through Unrivaled Hospitality Intelligence. Everywhere.

HVS.com