PPHE Hotel Group reveals London expansion plans

In its latest financial statement, PPHE said the construction of three new hotels and an expansion of its existing Park Plaza Riverbank hotel would increase its London room count by 47 per cent to 3,300.

The company confirmed it would press ahead with plans to build a 438-room hotel on the site of the former Hercules House office block near Waterloo, adding that the development would make it ‘one of the largest operators on London's South Bank’.

It added that developments of a hotel opposite Park Royal tube station​ in West London and a 350-room art’otel in Hoxton​ were also progressing.

PPHE completed the largest refinancing in its history in December, and intends to embark on an ‘extensive renovation’ of its Park Plaza Riverbank, Park Plaza Victoria and Park Plaza Sherlock Holmes hotels in London this year.

It received planning permission from Lambeth Town Council for an extension of Park Plaza Riverbank last year. “We are currently reviewing plans for the development of this extension, as well as a reconfiguration,” said the company.

Strong trading performance​

Boris Ivesha, PPHE’s president and chief executive officer, said the company’s expansion plans followed ‘strong trading’ by its London hotels last year.

“The London market has proven to be highly resilient and we are therefore pleased that we have been able to further strengthen our development pipeline in this appealing travel and investor destination,” he said.

According to the company’s preliminary statement for the year ended 31 December 2013, PPHE’s London delivered year-on-year RevPAR growth of 4.9 per cent in local currency terms.

Two of the group’s London hotels outperformed its competitive set in terms of RevPAR during the year, while the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge ‘the best performer in its competitive set’, PPHE said.

UK growth​

PPHE’s Park Plaza Leeds and Park Plaza Nottingham also reported strong RevPAR growth, outperforming other hotels in the cities.

In total, revenue from PPHE’s UK hotels rose 5.1 per cent to £137.2m on a local currency basis, while RevPAR increased by 4.8 per cent to £117.4.

Occupancy at its UK properties increased 5.1 percentage points to 86.8 per cent and average room rates dipped by 1.3 per cent to £135.3.

“​2013 was another year of progress for PPHE Hotel Group. This was achieved against a very strong prior year comparative, as we benefited in 2012 from the London Olympic Games,” said PPHE chairman Eli Papouchado.

Tozi restaurant​

PPHE also reported strong performance from its Italian sharing concept Tozi restaurant in London Victoria, the first of several destination-led restaurant and bars planned​ at key sites across London.

The company said the restaurant had ‘exceeded expectations’ for its first trading year, and had consistently ranked in the Top 20 best restaurants in London list on Tripadvisor.com.