Hotel Owner May 2019 | Page 13

MONTH IN REVIEW GO ONLINE www.hotelowner.co.uk HOTEL OPENINGS Travelodge opens its first hotel in Bury St Edmunds Travelodge has opened its first property in Bury St Edmunds following an £8m investment to create the 80-room hotel. Jo Churchill, assistant government whip and MP for Bury St Edmunds joined developer Mike Spenser and Tony O’ Brien, Travelodge UK development director, to officially open the hotel. Bury St Edmunds Travelodge is located close to the railway station and is the company’s 579th hotel and its seventh property in Suffolk. The 80-room hotel features an on-site restaurant called the Bar Café which offers a breakfast, dinner and bar menu. The hotel also offers on-site complimentary car-parking. The rooms feature LED ceiling lighting, providing a warmer ambiance, a ‘comfort cooling’ system, a 32 inch Freeview TV, WiFi and free in-room tea and coffee making facilities. At the official opening of Bury St Edmunds Travelodge, the company also announced that Suffolk is a “key growth area” and it is actively searching for three more hotels sites across the county. Locations include Felixstowe, Lowestoft and Newmarket. It said collectively this expansion programme represents an investment of £15m for third party investors and will create around 60 new jobs. With the addition of these three hotels, Travelodge will operate 10 hotels across the county and make it Suffolk’s largest branded budget hotel operator. May 2019 HOTELS FOR SALE Perth country house hotel brought to market for £3.25m The Leonardo Boutique Hotel Huntingtower in Perth, built in original Tudor style and set in its own wooded and lawned grounds, has been brought to the market for around £3.25m. Colliers International, which is acting for the vendor of the property, said Perth’s hotel market is “doing well” and the sale represents a “good chance for hoteliers looking to gain a quality asset in the area”. The 34-bedroom hotel, which is owned by a corporate group with a large portfolio, sits in five acres of grounds and is described as “an authentic country house hotel” while also being close to the city. An established wedding venue, it also has meeting and event income thanks to its six meeting rooms, restaurant and conservatory. Julian Troup, head of UK hotels agency at Colliers International, said: “We are delighted to bring the Huntingtower Hotel to the market. It is an established and well known hotel operating with a healthy trading base. “The beautiful hotel has substantial meeting facilities and extensive grounds and provides an excellent mix of income streams. We are anticipating a favourable response to the marketing, particularly bearing the hotel’s long established reputation.” 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 RESULTS PPHE Hotel Group starts 2019 with 8.1% LFL revenue rise PPHE Hotel Group has revealed it made a “strong start” to 2019 as it saw an 8.1% LFL revenue increase. In a trading update for the three months ending 31 March 2019 the international hospitality real estate group which owns, co-owns and develops hotels said that LFL revenue increased from £57.8m to £62.4m, driven by “strong growth” in the UK , with positive performances across the Netherlands, Germany, Hungary. Reported total revenue also increased by 5.2% to £62.5m. PPHE also saw an increase in occupancy up from 73.7% to 76.4% while RevPar for the three months was also up on a reported and LFL basis up 10.1% and 7.9% respectively. The group also announced it has an approximately £240m committed investment programme in place for the development of art’otel london hoxton and several repositioning projects. 22 May 2019 will see the launch of the group’s first completed repositioning project for 2019, Holmes Hotel London. This will follow by the completion of repositioning projects at Park Plaza Vondelpark, Amsterdam, Park Plaza Utrecht and Arena Kazela Campsite in Croatia. Commenting on the results, Boris Ivesha, president and CEO, said: “We are pleased to report a strong first quarter performance, with like-for- like revenue for the group increasing by 8.1% reflecting good increases in occupancy and average room rate and the appeal of our portfolio and our rigorous focus on inspirational service delivery to delight our guests.” END: THAT’S ALL. YOU ARE NOW UP TO DATE www.hotelowner.co.uk 13