TRENDING
Highgate ’ s deal for Viceroy Hotels a sign of the times
VOLUME OPERATOR PICKS UP A LUXURY BRAND THAT NEEDED A HELPING HAND TO SCALE UP .
By DAVID EISEN , EDITOR IN CHIEF
Highgate Hotels , which has more than 500 owned or managed properties globally , but not a true brand of its own , has one now . The New York-based company announced it has acquired the lifestyle-to-luxury Viceroy Hotels & Resorts for an unspecified sum with the transaction expected to close early this year .
The deal is part of a growing trend of larger companies in the hospitality space bolting on smaller ones that , in many instances , have peaked or can ’ t accelerate further without the backing of a more deeppocketed player .
For the buyer , it means building scale in an environment that makes it necessary to survive .
Viceroy ’ s 10 current hotels , with two more reportedly on the way in
Portugal and Panama , will likely be folded into Highgate ’ s Lifestyle & Luxury division , joining such other hotels as The Knickerbocker and Park Lane in New York . ( Viceroy had a hotel in New York up until 2019 when it was reflagged as Le Méridien New York , Central Park , under Marriott .)
For Highgate , the deal may be more about the management
28 hotelsmag . com Jan / Feb 2023