Read the latest hotel industry news from around Europe.

Dublin-based hotel firm Dalata has signed a deal to acquire the 89-room Apex Hotel London Wall in the city of London from Edinburgh-based Apex Hotels for a sum of 53.4 million pounds sterling ($66.4 million).

The hotel, a few blocks south of Finsbury Circus Gardens, will be renamed the Clayton Hotel London Wall. Dalata said Apex Hotels owns the hotel’s long leasehold interest, with 107 years remaining, and that it is paying for the hotel from “existing facilities.” The transaction is expected to complete in early July 2023.

Core real estate investors in Europe who acquire hotels with lower risk, exercise less leverage and rely more on stable revenue streams from mature assets are not currently having things their way.

“You have to believe in [net operating income] growth to succeed,” said David Kellett, managing director and head of alternative investments in Europe at Invesco Real Estate.

Philippe Rossini, deputy manager of hospitality at Swiss Life Asset Management, said core investors currently have less scope for investment.

“We cannot buy at the same rates we used to. There are limits, and we have lowered our expectations. Higher interest rates do not make sense for [core investors], and [those rates] will stay — well, at least higher than 0%,” he said.

The hotel known as the Hard Rock London since 2019 will revert on May 17 to its previous name, The Cumberland, said owner Clermont Hotel Group. The property has 900 rooms and has an enviable location on the corner of Marble Arch by Hyde Park.

Clermont said the rebranding “contributes to the repositioning of the company within the travel, hospitality and leisure markets, where it will streamline and reposition a number of property assets under its key brands.”

United Kingdom inflation is falling, but the country and its hotel industry are far from free of painful cost increases. In particular, some hoteliers had no choice but to renegotiate longer-term energy contracts in fall and winter when energy costs soared, writes Hotel News Now’s Terence Baker.

• German hotel company RIMC Hotels & Resorts has bought the 63-room hotel 30 James Street in Liverpool out of administration. The hotel’s Grade II-listed building is famed for being the headquarters of White Star Shipping Line and thus the home of the ill-fated Titanic ocean liner;
• Radisson Hotel Group has opened the 212-room Flightgate Munich Airport Hotel, part of its soft brand Radisson Individuals, in the satellite town of Hallbergmoos.
• Choice Hotels has signed a partnership deal with Amsterdam-based Borealis Hotel Group for the latter to franchise upscale and midscale hotels in the countries it already operates in and new destinations;
• Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has entered a joint venture with Greek management firm Zeus International to develop hotels under the U.S. company’s brands Trademark Collection by Wyndham and Registry Collection Hotels — with a focus on destinations in Southeast Europe;
• 1 Hotel Mayfair, part of Starwood Capital Group brand 1 Hotels, will open July 13 with nine floors overlooking London’s Green Park and 181 rooms;
• Hilton, private equity firm Blackstone and management firm Event Hotels are to open on July 1 the 420-room DoubleTree by Hilton Berlin Ku’damm, the first of that brand in the German capital;
• Operator Capilon Hotels and investor Awan Group have acquired the 49-room Prince William Hotel, in the Paddington area of London, for 15 million pounds sterling ($18.72 million);
• Aparthotel operator Staycity has acquired a site in Stratford, East London, for which it plans a 240-apartment property that will be developed by its in-house property arm. It will be the firm’s eight hotel in London and represent an investment of 40 million pounds sterling;
• Hyatt Hotels Corporation opened its ninth hotel in London, the 204-room Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars in a Grade II-listed building on the former grounds of King Henry VIII’s Bridewell Palace;
• Wyndham opened the 171-room Ajul Luxury Hotel & Spa Resort in Pallini, in the northern Greek region of Halkidiki. South of city Thessaloniki, it is the firm’s first hotel in Europe within its soft brand Registry Collection;
• IHG Hotels & Resorts and Monterotel SL, a joint venture between Bain Capital and Stoneweg, have signed a deal to transform the Hotel Los Monteros Spa & Golf Resort Marbella, closed since late 2022, into the 178-room Kimpton Los Monteros Marbella. No reopening date has been given, but it will be the third Kimpton in Spain after hotels in Barcelona and Mallorca;
• In the city of London, the former Dorsett City London is to relaunch as Hotel Saint, with 267 rooms and 14 floors.

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