Well, its one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, now go, cat, go. The panic that has rocked the financial world all the way from the US mortgage crisis to Britain’s Northern Rock building society stepped on the shoes of several leading hospitality firms this week.
Marylebone Warwick Balfour was forced to put its potential £685m sale of the Malmaison and Hotel du Vin boutique chains on the back burner, while the delayed property deal between Robert Tchenguiz and Mitchells & Butlers sent the pub operator’s debt spiralling to £140m .
The money to back the bonanza promised by the 2012 London Olympics was also singularly absent in the Government’s long-delayed tourism strategy for the games , and the Lib Dems put the boot into Labour for it’s neglect of tourism as they unveiled their own plans for the sector.
A bad summer – following the loss of a money-spinning super-casino – left Blackpool’s roomstock in meltdown with 220 hotels on the market. Further north, Scottish publicans fretted over proposed hikes to licence fees.
Many, however, held their nerve and kept their purse strings open. Whitbread looked set to snap up the UK arm of the Golden Tulip hotel chain, Hilton shareholders gave the green light to its £10b takeover by Blackstone, private equity firm Octopus caught the Smollensky’s restaurant chain in its embrace , the Indian Hotels Group bought a 10% slice of Orient-Express , and a Jamie Oliver company emerged as a possible buyer for Little Chef (but later denied any such plans).
Two new names appeared on the block as nightclub operator Ultimate Leisure heralded its new direction under the Premium Bars and Restaurants banner and London Asian restaurant group Old World Hospitality expanded into catering with the launch of Events Etc.
An old name – former Greene King director Mark Angela - returned in the new role of PizzaExpress chief executive.
It was a good week for celebrity names as the Roux brother scooped the AA Lifetime Achievement Award and Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck was named the UK’s best restaurant by the Good Food Guide. Less so for current golden boy Gordon Ramsay, who faced his second award snub in a fortnight.
Quote of the week: “Labour has neglected tourism in this country for far too long. They’ve made cuts to VisitBritain’s budget, hiked the price of visas, and repeatedly delayed the Olympic tourism plan”. Lib Dem spokesman Don Foster talks tough.