The Vienna Group has stepped up its expansion outside London
by adding two former Premier hotels in the West Midlands to its portfolio.
Premier Hotels went into administration last month after an
attempted refinancing of the company fell through.
The two hotels now being run by Vienna are the 110-bedroom
Express by Holiday Inn in Castle Bromwich and the 133-bedroom Howard Johnson in
West Bromwich. Both hotels are newly built.
They were developed by Premier, which then entered into
sale-and-leaseback deals with property investors.
Vienna has taken a 35-year lease on the Castle Bromwich
hotel, but only has a short-term management contract for the West Bromwich
hotel.
The hotels will continue to operate under the Express by
Holiday Inn and Howard Johnson flags.
It is the first time Vienna has run hotels under a
franchised brand name. Deputy chairman Brian Levy said the move made sense
because the Castle Bromwich hotel had been designed to fit the Express by Holiday
Inn brand.
He said of the other property: “Howard Johnson is a new
brand to the UK and we’re probably going to run with that for the time being.”
Levy added: “We’ve got the manual and we know precisely what
we need to do. Both managers are in situ and both are very experienced and
familiar with those particular products.” The rest of the hotel staff are also
staying on.
The Castle Bromwich hotel is just off the M6 motorway, close
to the former tyre factory at Fort Dunlop, now being redeveloped. It is also
close to the National Exhibition Centre and Birmingham airport.
The West Bromwich property is just off junction one of the
M5.
Vienna has been running hotels for nearly 30 years, but only
made its first foray outside London four years ago, when it acquired the 70-bedroom
Linton Lodge Hotel in Oxford from Hilton.
Last year it added the 85-bedroom Kings Hotel in Brighton.
Levy said of the latest move: “It puts a new dimension on
our business, which for years has been in central London.
“Who knows, it may lead to other acquisitions if the
circumstances are right.”
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Vienna Group