AccorHotels' HotelInvest to invest in five new UK hotels
The new hotels - in London, Cambridge and Edinburgh - will take the hotel group's UK portfolio to 97.
New hotels planned are:
- A 120-room ibis Styles at Ealing Apex, London, scheduled to open in June 2016
- A 231-room ibis in Cambridge, scheduled to open in September 2016
- A 313-bedroom Novotel at Canary Wharf, London. The 39-storey hotel will be the world's tallest Novotel and is scheduled to open in January 2017
- A 146-room Adagio at Edinburgh Carlton Gate, scheduled to open in January 2017
- A 196-room ibis at Canning Town, London, scheduled to open in September 2017
Since it was formed in 2013 when AccorHotels split its business into investments (owner and investor) and services (operations and franchises, HotelInvest has restructured 32 hotel properties.
HotelInvest UK COO Hervé Deligny said the company would continue to restructure properties and was seeking more suitable sites for hotels.
“We have enjoyed a successful year restructuring our portfolio, and managing our existing assets to increase their profitability. Whilst focusing on the Asset Management of our hotels, we continued working on development opportunities and are adding great hotels in exceptional locations to our portfolio," he said.
“We remain focused on seeking additional growth opportunities and we are very much in the market to buy more hotels in the UK.”
Hotel investment
News of AccorHotels' HotelInvest expansion plans comes as a report by HVS reveals that the UK was the strongest driver of transaction activity in Europe in 2015, accounting for 48 per cent of Europe's €23.7 billion hotel transaction volume last year.
The HVS European Transactions Report found that investors were attracted by continued RevPAR growth in hotels in most major European markets with significant deals including the sale of the Ace hotel London Shoreditch by Starwood Capital for €206 million and Ermin’s hotel, bought by Sunrider International for €213 million.
“Despite current economic woes and increased volatility in the stock markets, there is no immediate end in sight for interest in the hotel sector as underlying operating fundamentals are trending upwards,” said report co-author Adrian Ruch, HVS Hodges Ward Elliott senior associate.
“We would expect strong investor demand to continue with no immediate slowdown, particularly given that the fourth quarter of 2015 accounted for one-third of the year’s total transaction volume."