Amid high inflation and surging energy costs, United Kingdom government officials have asked business owners to not pass on higher costs to consumers. But members of the U.K. hospitality industry say that's asking too much of hotel owners and operators trying to run profitable businesses.
Accor has announced that it has entered into exclusive negotiations with the Valesco Group to sell its Paris headquarters, the Sequana Tower, for 465 million euros ($461.2 million).
Energy cost increases are causing pain in the United Kingdom hotel industry, and with domestic residents who face less discretionary income because of inflation-linked, higher gas and electricity prices.
The Bank of England has increased interest rates for the sixth time in a row, this time to 1.75%.
The United Kingdom's hotel sector will show a noticeable surge in transactions outside of London as hotel-ownership balance sheets are cleaned up following the tumultuous year that was 2020, according to sources.
Hospitality workers are the "best face of Britain" and any criticism that jobs in cafes, bars and restaurants are a "stopgap" are old-fashioned, according to a Government minister. Employment minister Priti Patel will use a speech to the British Hospitality Association to herald the two million UK jobs growth since 2010 and praise hospitality workers for delivering modern and attractive career options.
Hispania Activos Inmobiliarios SAU said on Tuesday that its wholly owned unit, Hispania Real SOCIMI SAU (Hispania), had signed an agreement with Grupo Barcelo to establish a joined hotel company focused on holiday sector. Under the deal Hispania will initially buy 11 hotels and one shopping center and it will have the option to buy five additional hotels and one more shopping center
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email [email protected] to buy additional rights. During the past few years, Accor has earned a reputation for feisty boardroom showdowns and sensational management reshuffles. On Tuesday, Europe’s largest hotel group by number of rooms named another new chief executive. At a board meeting the company confirmed that Sébastien Bazin, until now the European head of California-based Colony Capital, would become the new chairman and chief executive with immediate effect.
Spanish hotel group NH Hoteles said on Thursday it asked creditor banks to back a near-term debt refinancing ahead of a 195 million euro ($249.92 million) payment on a syndicated loan due in a month's time. The group, which operates some 175 hotels at home and more than 225 abroad, said it hoped banks would soon agree to a five-year refinancing of the 650 million euro loan, which was taken out in 2007.
French catering group Sodexo has sealed a deal to buy gourmet caterer Lenotre from hotel group Accor for over 70 million euros ($99.4 million), the website of French daily Les Echos said on Thursday. Accor declined to comment while Sodexo could not be immediately reached for comment.
Luxury hotel chain von Essen went into administration today after its holding company missed payments on loans worth £250m. The company runs 30 properties in the UK and one hotel in France. They include the Cliveden in Berkshire, Seaham Hall in County Durham, Amberley Castle in West Sussex and The Royal Crescent in Bath. All properties are continuing to trade normally.
The battle for control of Maybourne Hotel Group, which owns the Berkeley, Claridge's and The Connaught hotels in London, has taken a dramatic turn this weekend with a surprise bid from the Chinese government for the 37 per cent stake in the group. Although owner Paddy McKillen, one of Ireland's most successful property developers, has said he did not want to sell, he is understood to be evaluating the offer.
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Mint, the recently rebranded city centre hotel chain, is close to being put up for sale by Lloyds Banking Group and the Orr family with a price tag of around £550m. An information memorandum for prospective buyers is expected to be issued over the next few weeks after the joint-owners appointed investment bank JP Morgan Cazenove to handle the sale. Mint, which was founded as City Inn in 1995 and was only rebranded in November, is one of a number of hotel companies inherited by Lloyds after its painful acquisition of HBOS.
Eurazeo SA, France’s largest publicly traded private equity firm, said it’s in exclusive talks to sell B&B Hotels, the budget chain it bought five years ago, to Carlyle Group.
“The transaction is proceeding on the basis of an estimated enterprise value at the closing period of 485 million euros ($633 million),” Paris-based Eurazeo said in a statement.
U.K. pub group Mitchells & Butlers PLC (MAB.LN) Thursday took the first major step in its new management's business strategy, selling its 52 hotels for GBP91 million, with budget hotel operator Travelodge taking on the leases in a 25-year deal. The U.K. pub group said it was selling the Inkeeper's Lodges, which comprise 2,000 rooms, to Prupim, a property investment arm of Prudential PLC (PUK). Prupim in turn has agreed to lease the hotels for 25 years to Travelodge, the budget hotel chain owned by Dubai Holding's investment arm. The deal is the first under M&B's new strategy of selling non-core assets to focus on expanding its key brands.
Lloyds Banking Group will say today that it is to breathe new life into the owner of De Vere hotels, the group behind The Grand in Brighton and Cameron House on Loch Lomond, which has been under pressure to renegotiate bank loans.
Accor's decision to demerge its services division should undoubtedly create value, but how much?That will depend on whether one of the world's biggest international hotels group, stripped of its prepaid-vouchers unit, is successful in reinventing itself as a less-capital-intensive, higher-return business. That could prove tough. It involves clearing €1.2 billion ($1.62 billion) in net debt and cutting capital spending through the sale of 450 hotels and other assets over the next three years in far-from-easy market conditions.
A cashflow crisis that threatened the financial security of the Rocco Forte Collection, the luxury hotel group owned by Sir Rocco Forte, has been averted after HBOS, part of Lloyds Banking Group, agreed to extend a £300 million loan pending a long-term solution, The Times has learnt. It is understood that the hotelier had to hold urgent talks with the bank last year after the downturn in trade put its joint venture with HBOS, encompassing seven of its thirteen hotels, including Brown’s, its London flagship, in breach of financial covenants.
French hotels and services company Accor SA's board of directors Tuesday voted to split the company into two separate, listed companies -- one focusing on hotels, the other on vouchers -- ending years of speculation and pressure from some shareholders. A wide majority of the 12-member board of the world's second-largest hotels group in terms of market capitalization after U.S.-based Marriott International Inc., which met for most of the day Tuesday, voted in favor of the plans, with one vote opposed.
Spanish hotel chain Sol Melia (SOL.MC) forecast an improvement in fourth-quarter hotel bookings in Spanish cities, but said prices would still suffer as business and leisure travellers remain strapped for cash. "Throughout the fourth quarter, a better performance of occupancy rates is expected for Spanish cities according to current bookings, although no recovery in prices is foreseen in the coming months," Sol Melia said with nine-month results.