LONDON—GLH Hotels’ portfolio repositioning is in full swing.
Having ended management contracts on 19 Thistle branded hotels in April, the group now is focusing efforts on the rollout of the new Thistle Express economy brand. At least 11 properties are in the pipeline, with the first to open next year, according to CEO Mike DeNoma.
Talking to Hotel News Now, the CEO of the London-based hotel company, part of Singapore-based GuocoLeisure Group, said the initial pipeline would all see opening dates within the next five years. It caters to travelers who prize convenience, location and the best technology and Wi-Fi, and who can happily switch from a budget hotel for one stay to a luxury hotel stay for the next.
The new Thistle Express properties, DeNoma said, will include both conversions and new builds, have no meeting rooms and be limited service in nature, with little in the way of food and beverage.
“Outside of London, most office buildings have better meeting spaces than do hotels,” DeNoma said, “but what we will have is the best Wi-Fi provision in the segments we occupy.”
Repositioning Thistle
GLH retains ownership and management of 10 Thistle hotels in Central London, one at Heathrow Airport and two in regional United Kingdom. GLH’s Thistle Express roll out came on the back of the 24 April announcement it was ending management contracts on 19 regional U.K. Thistle properties.
United States private equity company Lone Star on 31 July took over the debt on those 19 hotels, which now are managed by Lone Star-owned The Hotel Collection, rebranded from Puma Hotels in June 2014.
Earlier in July, Lone Star put together all its recent U.K. hospitality buys, including Jurys Inn, under a new management platform named Amaris Hospitality, under the stewardship of Jurys Inn’s CEO John Brennan and which also includes several hotels operated by third-party brands AccorHotels and Hilton Worldwide Holdings.
DeNoma is open in his critique of Thistle and said his remaining properties in that brand would all be considered for repositioning under the flags of other GLH brands, which include Clermont Hotels & Residences, Amba Hotels and Every Hotels, in addition to Thistle Express. He said he was actively looking at additional Thistle Express sites beyond the initial 11-property pipeline.
“Thistle is an interesting case. It is well-known in the U.K., but many of the regional properties had a 4-star promise but 3-star delivery and 4-star overheads but 3-star (revenue per available room),” DeNoma said.
He added that GLH had mulled possible ownership of those Thistle properties.
“We did look at buying them. Not one of them was a built as a Thistle hotel. Some, I believe, can make money, but just not by us. They have great teams in them, but we see our potential is in London, where we are the largest owner-operator of hotels, not to be distracted by regional buys of varying quality,” DeNoma said.
He said the 19-property Thistle portfolio sell-off was a “complicated disengagement.”
“In this case it was a win-won for everyone. It was great to work with Lone Star,” DeNoma added.
“The Hotel Collection has a good future. Good luck to them. Again, we looked at (those 19 hotels) but knew the biggest bang for our buck is in London,” DeNoma said.
The current portfolio
One of GLH’s 5-star Clermont properties is in Singapore, a second in London and a third in Malaysia, which also contains two Thistle properties. One Guoman property is in Shanghai; another three are in London, which are likely to all be repositioned into the 4-star Amba brand. Amba currently has one London property in operation, with the Amba Marble Arch to reopen this fall after a £28-million ($42.8 million) renovation. One more property, The Cumberland, currently under the Guoman umbrella, might be designated a standalone hotel. A sole Every hotel sits in London, with three more, also to be in the U.K. capital, in the pipeline.
Overall, GLH has a roster of 21 hotels in operation, which comprises the largest stock of owner-operated rooms in London. Fifteen properties are in its pipeline, including the Amba Marble Arch and the Thistle Express rollout.
DeNoma stressed that all his hotels, in whatever segment they sit, will strive to be best in class in tech and Wi-Fi.
Social media results reflect the company’s goals, DeNoma said.
“Our Amba Hotel Charing Cross property is currently No. 4 on TripAdvisor, an unprecedented jump,” DeNoma said of the online travel agency’s top London hotels as rated by its customers.