Real Hotel Group's Birmingham property is sold

Another Real Hotel Group (RHG) property has been sold for around £4.5m, following the group's collapse into administration in January.

The Quality Hotel in Birmingham was bought by newly-formed Cobdens Hotel Limited from RHG's administrator BDO Stoy Hayward.

The hotel, which had annual turnover of £2.4m in 2008, is located approximately one mile from Birmingham city centre and has 176 bedrooms, bar, restaurant, leisure facilities and seven conference rooms.

Cobdens Hotel Limited is formed of local operators Gurpal and Ravinder Singh who currently operate the 73-room Edgbaston Palace Hotel and Cavalier House, which is adjacent to the new acquisition. They intend to keep the Quality brand and made upgrades to the hotel when required.

Julian Troup, corporate director of property agent Colliers Robert Barry, said: "We acted on behalf of the purchasers in the negotiations and assisted in the process throughout.

"This is further evidence of hotel funding returning to the market particularly where the customer has a proven track record of success and the hotel in question is seen as being an attractive and viable opportunity moving forward".

The plight of unsecured creditors to RHG was highlighted this week by Tony Hailwood, managing director of recruitment firm Capital People, who is owed £50,000 but will not receive any money back.

"BDO Stoy Hayward has confirmed that it is extremely unlikely that there will be any payout to unsecured creditors from the Real Hotel Group," he told Caterersearch.

"Bearing in mind, (RHG) went into administration owing millions but with decent assets, I think this is diabolical."

For more on the Real Hotel Group and creditors' plight see news analysis in this week's Caterer (5 June).

Travelodge acquires three Purple hotels >>

Six former Real Hotel Group hotels up for sale >>

Compass Hotels take over RHC contracts >>

Focus Hotels safeguards 500 Real Hotel Group jobs >>

150 jobs lost as Real Hotel Group closes four hotels >>

The Real Hotel Group collapses into administration >>

By Gemma Sharkey

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