UK hotel investment up 47 per cent year-on-year

The firm highlighted continued investment in regional hotel assets, with only 34 per cent of transactions taking place in London during the first quarter of 2015, down from 47 per cent in the same period last year.

Key regional transactions included Ability Group’s £20m acquisition of the Park Inn by Radisson in Manchester and Marathon’s £27.5m purchase of the DoubleTree by Hilton in Chester.

Savills have also sold a portfolio of seafront hotels in Bournemouth to a Qatari group from a guide price of £16m this month (April 2015).

BigHospitality reported last year​ that while London was rated the top European city for investment, a series of high profile events and returned corporate and meetings demand boosted interest in regional investment.

Continued growth​

There was also a substantial rise in portfolio acquisitions and disposals year-on-year, accounting for 65 per cent of hotel transactions in the first quarter compared to 28 per cent in Q1 2014.

The largest portfolio transaction of the year to date was Lone Star’s £676m purchase of the Jury’s Inn chain, while Cerberus acquired the LRG2 portfolio of 18 Holiday Inns for £225m.

Martin Rogers, hotels director at Savills, said: “Last year saw UK hotel transaction volumes reach an eight-year high at £6.1 billion, and investor confidence has remained strong throughout the first quarter of 2015. Given the large volume of portfolios currently in the market, we are anticipating another robust year.”