Well, that’s another year almost over.
I thank you for reading my notes, opinions and perambulations over the past year, hope that you will continue to do so for the next 12 and beyond and wish you all the very happiest Christmas and holidays, or just a very warm, happy winter.
They are going far quicker than they used to, perhaps because they are full of more episodes of enjoyment or more regulations, requirements and rigmarole.
So, on to my list of the Best of 2025, all unscientifically chosen because they interested me.
Joint venture of the year
Barceló and KanAm set up joint venture for European hotel development
A hotel firm — Barceló Hotel Group, a division of Barcelo Gestion Hotelera S.L. — that has largely or entirely pointed west, either to mainland Spain or to the Caribbean and Central America, partnered with a German entity, KanAm Grund Group, to develop and enlarge Barceló’s portfolio in northern and western Europe.
The October agreement did not mention any specific hotels, but it did state the markets most attractive to the pair, which run to France, Ireland, Italy, Scandinavian and Nordic countries, and the United Kingdom. It will be fascinating to see where and how this partnership evolves.
Single hotel sale or acquisition of the year
Arora acquires £245-million London Ministry of Justice building for likely hotel
Arora Group is continuing its foray into acquiring single assets in the luxury space that are not that close to airports, its traditional hunting ground. Its latest move is the £245 million ($287 million at the time; $327.5 million at press time) acquisition of 102 Petty France in the Westminster district of London, a building that in large part houses part of the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Justice.
Arora Group COO Sanjay Arora told CoStar News that for the building the “No. 1 option is a hotel,” and why should it not be? The current lease, which Accor will earn rent on, is up in December 2028, so all eyes will be on the developer and architects’ blue prints thereafter.
After all, the building has been mentioned in Parliament and recorded in its official coverage of government proceedings, called Hansard. On July 4, 1972, Lord Reigate quoted architect Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as saying the building is “that irredeemable horror.” Let’s hope its makeover is regarded favorably.
Arora already owns the 70-room Fairmont Luton Hoo and 251-room Fairmont Windsor Park, so it might be a good guess that its new property will join them.
Number of the year
Travelodge opens 600th UK hotel
Travelodge might not be the highest-profile hotel firm in the U.K., but 600 opened hotels is a vast number. Could I name 600 towns in the U.K.? Actually, given my love of lists and geography, I might, but that is not the point — 600 is a huge achievement.
Sept. 4, 2025, was the date this milestone fell, with the debut of the 80-room Travelodge Skegness Seafront, Lincolnshire, a seaside destination on the North Sea. Travelodge owns it, too. That number was boosted in April when the firm acquired nine hotels and 951 rooms from Hotel Campanile, a brand operated by Jin Jiang Hotel’s principal European operator SAS Louvre Hotels Group.
My favorite hotel stay of the year
Lucknam Park, Emblems Collection
That would have to be the 49-room Lucknam Park, Emblems Collection, close to both Bath and Chippenham, England, a palatial but welcoming slow-paced affair in a 1720 building that since November has been managed by Accor.
It is the type of place where one wants to do little more than kick around the grounds, although a meal at the Michelin-starred Restaurant Hywel Jones is not to be sniffed at.
Coming a very close second was the 70-room Protea Hotel by Marriott Cape Town Mowbray, a Dutch-style urban retreat where the first things I saw were a hadada ibis and a red-winged starling and, at the independent restaurant next door, fortuitously met and chatted with Mark Peters, the South African Newsweek photographer who took the first photo of Nelson Mandela on his release from Robben Island.
Coolest hotel stay of the year
DogHouse Hotel
I must say, I enjoyed staying at the DogHouse Hotel in Manchester in beer firm BrewDog’s Fountain Street site during my attendance at the Annual Hotel Conference at the Manchester Central Convention Complex.
I am sure it is not everyone’s cup of tea, or glass of pale ale, but I thoroughly enjoyed its whimsicality and musical appurtenances. There were an amp and an electric Fender guitar in my room — not that I can play guitar, but there were an amp and an electric Fender guitar in my room.
Bird species of the year
It was a difficult year in which to go birding, mostly due to work commitments and the renovations to my new home. Thus, I only saw five news species for my U.K. list this year, which is pitifully low, although obviously the more species one sees, the harder it is to see new ones.
Anyway, here is the top five bird species seen across my travels, and where I saw them:
I. Red-tailed shrike (Lanius phoenicuroides) — Seen in Dunwich Heath, Suffolk, England, the 12th record for the U.K.
II. Blue crane (Grus paradises) — As its Latin name suggests, one of the most beautiful species of birds; seen near Paternoster, Western Cape, South Africa.
III. Zitting cisticola (Cisticola juncites) — The first case of successful breeding in the U.K. and a bird likely to soon colonize; Walberswick, Suffolk, England.
IV. African penguin (Spheniscus dimerous) — Despite a list of bird species seen globally of more than 1,650, this was my first penguin species, at Betty’s Bay, Western Cape, South Africa.
V. Hen harrier (Circus cyaneus) — This is the first male of this now very rare raptor species that I have seen in decades, in Elmley, Kent, England, and very recently, in November.
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