MONTH IN REVIEW
GO ONLINE
www.hotelowner.co.uk
ACQUISITION
Foncière des
Régions in
acquisition talks
with Principal
Hotel brand
1
2
3
NOVELTY
World’s first
space hotel to
launch in 2021
French hotel firm Foncière des Régions
(FdR) has confirmed it is in exclusive-
rights discussions with Starwood Capital
to open a portfolio of 14 hotels under the
Principal Hotel Company brand.
The portfolio of four and five-star
hotels includes the Principal York, the
Met in Leeds, the Grand in Birmingham
and the Principal in London, which is
scheduled to open in April.
The 14 hotels, come to a total of
2,626 guest-rooms, with nine of the
hotels located in England (Birmingham,
Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester,
Oxford, Wotton and York), four in
Scotland (Edinburgh, Glasgow), and
one in Wales (Cardiff) .
The deal is said to be worth around
£750m and depending on how
quickly discussions move forward, the
transaction “could be finalised by the
end of the first half of 2018”.
Foncière des Régions, a leading
hotel investor in Europe has property
assets under management valued at
€6bn (£5.25bn) for a total of almost
500 hotels, and is using its subsidiary
Foncière des Murs to negotiate the deal.
Starwood acquired the principal
portfolio in 2013 as part of its
acquisition of Principal Hayley in a deal
thought to be worth £350m.
May 2018
4
5
6
7
8
9
HOTEL CONCEPTS
Signature Living
announces
controversial
hotel plans for
Denbigh hospital
Signature Living has proposed plans
to redevelop the Denbigh hospital
in North Wales into a hotel themed
around its history as a Victorian asylum.
The world’s first ‘space hotel’, Aurora
Station, an orbiting spacecraft that
will host guests commercially, is set to
launch in 2021.
The property is being developed by
Orion Span and the company’s team
of space industry engineers, who
have a combined 140 years of human
space experience. Guests will be
charged $9.5m each (£6.7m) for their
stay, or about $791,666 (£561,449) a
night. The hotel will orbit Earth every
90 minutes, meaning those aboard
will see an average of 16 sunrises and
sunsets every 24 hours. On return to
Earth, guests will be treated to a ‘hero’s
welcome home’. It has been described
by the group as an “authentic astronaut
experience”.
Frank Bunger, CEO and founder
of Orion Span, said: “We’re proud to
announce Aurora Station – our first
orbital community - will launch in late
2021 as the world’s first luxury space
hotel. By early 2022, we will be hosting
tourists, astronauts, space research,
and manufacturing on board Aurora
Station in LEO.”
After several years of consistent
growth , the upward trajectory
has stalled somewhat, which
seems to be as a result of
occupancy levels hitting a
ceiling .
Pablo Alonso, CEO, HotStats
The company plans to transform the
Grade-II-listed former asylum into two
luxury hotels, and Signature Living
boss Lawrence Kenwright says he
and his team were looking at basing
one of the two hotels planned for
the site around a ghostly theme that
drew on the building’s former use as a
psychiatric hospital.
Kenwright said he is determined
to “keep all of the original buildings,
preserving the history and iconic
status of this magnificent listed
building”.
He said: “Our track record as a
developer, owner and operator has
clearly demonstrated that we have
the necessary expertise and skill set
in the regeneration of listed historical
buildings. We breathe new life into
these tired and often derelict listed
buildings, turning them into thriving
hotels and businesses.”
“We will shine a light on Denbigh,
as we have done with Liverpool,
bringing inward investment, creating
jobs and tourism.”
However reactions towards the plans
have been mixed with some locals
calling the idea of the themed hotel
“crass and disrespectful”.
www.hotelowner.co.uk
7