Total transactions in the UK hotels market reached £1.89bn in Q1 2015 – a 47% increase on the same period last year.
This is the finding of research by Savills, which also reports a rise in portfolio transactions, accounting for 65% of hotel deals in the first quarter compared to 28% 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 comprising 18 Holiday Inns for £225m.
There is also continued investor appetite for the regions, with only 34% of transactions taking place in London during Q1 2015, compared to 47% in the same quarter 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 (pictured).
Martin Rogers, hotels director at Savills, comments: “Last year saw UK hotel transaction volumes reach an eight-year high at £6.1bn and investor confidence has remained strong throughout the first quarter of 2015. Given the large volume of portfolios in the market, we are anticipating another robust year.”
