UK’s first Express by Holiday Inn sold

The first Express by Holiday Inn to be opened in Europe has been sold for an undisclosed sum.

The hotel, in Strathclyde Park, opened in April 1996 and will now be operated by Geminax Hotels & Leisure, the hotel arm of Festival Healthcare.

It was previously owned by consortium LRG Acquisition, which owns more than 70 UK hotels and the deal was brokered by property agent Christie & Co.

No official price was given, but estimates put the value of the Strathclyde Park disposal along with a second LRG sale of a 129-bedroom hotel in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, at £18m.

Geminax already operates three Express by Holiday Inn hotels in London and the South-east and plans a refurbishment of the 120-bedroom Strathclyde Park.

There are currently 108 express by Holiday Inns in the UK, with a further 70 in Europe and 1,583 in the USA. The first opened in the USA in 1991 before coming to Scotland in 1996.

Express owner InterContinental Hotels Group unveiled details of a three-year $1b (£489m) global overhaul of its Holiday Inn brand in October 2007.

Holiday Inn to get $1b global overhaul >>

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InterContinental sells 73 hotels for £1b >>

By Christopher Walton

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