Italian institutional investment firm Generali Real Estate has acquired the 203-room Novotel London Tower Bridge from Ares Real Estate and EQ Group.
According to CoStar, the acquisition price has not been disclosed, but Green Street News reports the sales price as £155 million ($207.5 million). If that figure is correct, the price per key is approximately £763,500.
The Novotel London Tower Bridge deal marks Milan-based Generali's entry into the United Kingdom. The company said in a news release that its “pan-European hospitality portfolio now reaches approximately €1 billion.”
Generali said the acquisition is “fully aligned” with its existing portfolio of high-end hotel properties in major European gateway cities, including Lyon, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Prague, Rome and Venice.
Gabriella Pelosi, its head of hospitality sector and portfolio management, said “London is one of the most liquid and resilient gateway markets globally. … The [Novotel London Tower Bridge] is expected to deliver stable recurring income to our investors, while also offering attractive upside potential supported by its strategic location and solid market positioning.”
JLL, which brokered the Novotel London Tower Bridge sale on behalf of the sellers, added the deal is another sign to the strength of the London hotel market. In the first quarter, London's hotel deal volume reached £834 million, JLL added.
Will Duffey, JLL’s head of Europe, Middle East and Africa hotel capital markets, said “this anchor London asset [is] from the wider portfolio that Ares and EQ had acquired from Land Securities.”
Ares and EQ Group’s acquired 21 U.K. hotels with 3,766 rooms from Land Securities in May 2024, a portfolio which included the Novotel London Tower Bridge.
CoStar reported the acquisition price for the portfolio deal was £400 million, while the price for the Novotel London was approximately £106 million.
Ares and EQ Group have already sold off other hotels tied to the Landsec portfolio. In September 2025, Arora Group and Deva Capital bought the 630-room Novotel London West for approximately £160 million.
Then in January, Ares and EQ Group sold both the 164-room Novotel Manchester Centre and 127-room Ibis Manchester Centre to Germany’s A&O Hotels & Hostels. A month later, the partners sold three hotels — the 196-room Novotel Leeds Centre, 141-room Ibis Glasgow and 141-room Novotel Glasgow Centre — to SanRaj Group division Clearsense Ventures.
