Hotel industry and travel news from around the European region: Bankinter launches Victoria Hotels & Resorts with acquisitions from Meliá, Schroders acquires Grand Hotel Central in Barcelona and more...

Bankinter launches Victoria Hotels & Resorts with 8-hotel portfolio acquisition from Meliá
Spanish bank Bankinter has acquired a 1,945-room portfolio of eight hotels from operator Meliá Hotels International by taking a majority stake in a deal that values the new venture at a reported €203.9 million (€105,000 per room). The deal also involved investor GMA and a small number of Bankinter’s high-net-worth clients and institutional investors. The transaction includes six hotels owned by Meliá and participation in a company that owns another two. Meliá will continue to operate the properties and will also hold a 7.5% stake in the new company. The hotels included in the deal are: Gran Meliá Victoria (Mallorca), Meliá Tamarindos (Gran Canaria), Meliá Granada, Sol Beach House Menorca, Meliá Salinas (Lanzarote), Innside Bosque (Mallorca), Meliá Atlanterra (Cadiz) and Innside Zaragoza. Six of the properties are expected to undergo major renovations, with an expected capex investment of more than €125 million. The new company will be known as Victoria Hotels & Resorts.

Schroders acquires Grand Hotel Central in Barcelona from Unico Hotels
British asset manager Schroders has acquired the 147-room Grand Hotel Central in Barcelona from Spanish operator Unico Hotels for €93 million (€633,000 per room). The 5-star property, which is located in the city’s Old Town on Via Laietana, is the first investment of the Schroder European Operating Hotel Fund I*. Unico Hotels will continue to operate the property under a management agreement. The transaction comes just two months after a sale and leaseback deal with York Capital, at a reported price of €85 million, fell through.

RICA Eiendom acquires Zander K Hotel in Bergen, Norway
Norwegian hotel operator RICA Eiendom has acquired the 249-room Zander K Hotel in Bergen, Norway, from Norwegian businessmen Herman Friele and Kjetil Smørås for 408 million NOK (1.6 million NOK per room), the equivalent of €39.5 million (€159,000 per room). The modern design hotel was built in 2017 and recently received the City Prize Hordaland. Located in the city center, close to the Grand Hotel Terminus, the hotel was reportedly under significant pressure during the pandemic and was sold to provide liquidity for the sellers’ other properties.

Atlas Hotels acquire Hampton Birmingham Jewellery Quarter from Birmingham Regeneration
English owner-operator Atlas Hotels has acquired the 109-room Hampton by Hilton Birmingham Jewellery Quarter from local owner Birmingham Regeneration LP for an undisclosed sum. The hotel, which is located less than 10 minutes’ walk from Birmingham City Centre, was a former textile factory that was converted into a hotel in 2013. The property will continue to be operated under the Hampton by Hilton brand. This is Atlas’s second Hampton, with its other 48 hotels being Holiday Inn Expresses.

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