The UK’s Village Hotels chain has a new owner, after private equity investor Blackstone acquired the business for a reported GBP800m, from seller KSL Capital Partners.
The business has 33 hotels around the UK, owning both the properties, and the operating business. Unusually, the sites all feature an extensive health club, which typically has more than 4,000 local members, helping to boost the takings at food and beverage outlets within the properties. Health and leisure membership accounts for close to a quarter of group revenues.
Fresh expansion opportunities
“We see great potential in lodging and leisure as a sector, especially where we can support strongly positioned businesses that deliver exceptional experiences to their customers,” said James Seppala, Head of real estate Europe at Blackstone. “We look forward to partnering with Village Hotels’ seasoned management team and support them as it embarks on its next stage of growth.”
Under the previous ownership of KSL, the group grew over the last decade from 25 sites to its current size, adding over 1,200 rooms and building the leisure club membership by 45,000. Some of the new additions were already pipeline projects when KSL bought the business, while others were acquired and added subsequently.
The group has added Starbucks branded coffee shops within the hotels, supplementing its own bar and grill offering. It has also signed an agreement with electric vehicle charging operator Ionity, who will roll out rapid charging stations in the car parks of the hotels, over the coming year or so.
Most of the Village hotel additions in recent years have been new builds, although the company did acquire a hotel in Bracknell in 2021 for conversion to the Village brand. The company continues to work on new sites, including Milton Keynes where it has acquired a site for development, and Slough.
A growing hospitality presence
New owner Blackstone is already a committed investor in the UK hospitality space. In 2021 it bought Bourne Leisure, a group including Haven holiday parks and also the Warner adults-only hotel chain. Haven has expanded with the acquisition of Richmond Holiday Centre in Skegness in 2022, and Holivans Caravan Park in Mablethorpe in March 2024.
At Warner, Blackstone has also backed expansion, and in 2023 added two sites by acquiring existing hotels. Dalmahoy Hotel and Country Club near Edinburgh became the first Warner hotel in Scotland, with a 215 room hotel set in over 1,000 acres. And near Birmingham, Forest of Arden Country Club was added, taking the portfolio to 18 sites around the UK. In addition, the group is expanding existing sites, including Runnymede, where it is adding more facilities and more bedrooms.