Bath’s Hilton Hotel has a new owner after being acquired by US investment group Starwood Capital as part of a portfolio of seven Hiltons across the UK.
Miami-headquartered Starwood Capital paid US firm Park Hotels & Resorts £135m for the hotels, which are based in London, Edinburgh, Bath and Belfast and have a total of 1,300 rooms. The Hilton Bath City, on Walcot Street, pictured, is the city’s second-largest with 173 rooms.
Starwood Capital said the venues benefited from high occupancies, high barriers to entry and solid investment fundamentals. It will now refurbish a number of them “to transform operating performance and enhance asset values”.
The portfolio will be managed by London-based Kew Green Hotels under franchise agreements with Hilton Worldwide. Kew Green Hotels was formed in September 2001 to operate high quality limited and full service branded hotels in prime locations throughout the UK and now operates 61 hotels in key cities including London, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester and Portsmouth.
Most of the hotels are operated under franchise agreements with some of the world's leading hotel brands including Holiday Inn – for which it operates sites in Swindon, Taunton and Cardiff – Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn Express, Courtyard by Marriott, ibis Styles and Hampton by Hilton.
The deal is the second acquisition in 12 months where Starwood and Kew Green have partnered and follows the successful takeover of the 298-room Holiday Inn Manchester in April.
Starwood Capital vice president Jon Asumendi said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Kew Green on yet another exciting transaction involving prime UK city centre assets.
“We are acquiring this well-located portfolio at a substantial discount to replacement cost and with significant upside potential still to be realized. We look forward to investing in these properties alongside Kew Green and leveraging Starwood Capital Group’s hospitality expertise to maximize portfolio performance and investment returns."
Kew Green executive chairman Jamie Lamb said: “Adding seven high-quality Hilton branded assets to our management platform is an exciting step forwards for the Kew Green Group.
“We are also very pleased to be partnering with Starwood Capital Group for a second time to unlock opportunities in the portfolio, where we can create value together.”
Starwood Capital Group, a private alternative investment firm with a core focus on global real estate, energy infrastructure and oil & gas, has 11 offices in five countries around the world, and employs 3,700 staff.
