Amaris Hospitality brings together Lone Star hotel assets

Amaris Hospitality has announced the creation of a hotel investment and hospitality group, which will bring together a unique portfolio of hotel assets, owned by the global private equity firm Lone Star.

As of 30 July, Amaris will take on 19 provincial hotels currently operating under the Thistle hotel brand.
As of 30 July, Amaris will take on 19 provincial hotels currently operating under the Thistle hotel brand.
Amaris Hospitality currently comprises 89 individual hotel properties, from four separate portfolios acquired by Lone Star over the last two years, trading under brands such as Jurys Inn, Mercure, MGallery, DoubleTree by Hilton and Hilton Garden Inn. The Group currently has 29 Jurys Inn hotels, 21 Mercure hotels, 17 Hotel Collection hotels, three Hilton hotels and, as of 30 July, 19 provincial hotels currently operating under the Thistle hotel brand.

The Group has more than 15,000 rooms, employs over 8,000 people and its business divisions have combined sales totalling more than £450 million. This makes Amaris Hospitality one of the largest hotel owners and managers in the UK.

Lone Star, through Amaris Hospitality, intends to commit more than £100 million in capital investment in the refurbishment, rebranding and transformation of the Group’s portfolio to accelerate its growth and development in the coming years.

In a statement, Amaris Hospitality revealed its management team is working, together with its advisors, to develop a clear strategy for the enlarged branded portfolio, with a view to maximising the synergies and growth opportunities for the Group.

“This will include repositioning and rebranding a number of hotels to Jurys Inn or other brands. The combination of great brands, extensive capital investment and focused management will drive superior performance,” it said.

Rothschild has been appointed to advise on the structure of Amaris Hospitality, the strategic review of its portfolio and the roll out of its business plan over the coming years.

The remaining hotels will be retained by Lone Star and operate as a portfolio of individual UK provincial hotels trading as The Hotel Collection, led by current managing director Peter Manby, and will not form part of Amaris Hospitality in the long term.

Amaris Hospitality will be managed by an experienced team led by John Brennan, current CEO of Jurys Inn Hotel Group. Grant Hearn, former CEO of Travelodge has been appointed non-executive chairman of the Group.

“We are delighted to announce the creation of Amaris Hospitality,” said Grant Hearn. “The new group will allow us to leverage the considerable scale and size of this unique portfolio of hotels and brands to accelerate its future growth and development and, we believe, create the UK’s best performing, most exciting hospitality investment group. Through the successful implementation of our strategy in the coming years we expect the business to have a value of over £2 billion.”

Other key appointments in Amaris Hospitality include Cormac Ó Tighearnaigh, current CFO of Jurys Inn, who has been appointed CFO and deputy CEO of Amaris Hospitality, with specific responsibility for integration and development. Jennifer Lee has been appointed chief people officer and Darren Guy group director of finance.

sourced:traveldailymedia.com