Copthorne Hotel Holdings, a subsidiary of Singapore-based City Developments Limited, acquired the 706-room Holiday Inn London-Kensington High Street for £280 million ($370 million) or £396,601 ($525,616) per key.
The hotel is adjacent to one of CDL’s existing hotels, the 833-room Copthorne Tara Hotel London Kensington.
According to CoStar, the seller of the Holiday Inn London-Kensington High Street is London-based Cola Holdings. The hotel started flying the Holiday Inn flag in December 2016.
CDL added in a statement the freehold Holiday Inn measures 6,356 square meters and that it “expected [the hotel] to generate over 6% running yield.”
In the first nine months of 2025, the hotel had an average occupancy of more than 97%, with “total revenue for the preceding 12 months exceed[ing] £39 million,” according to CDL.
CDL already has a notable hotel portfolio in the United Kingdom capital of more than 3,000 rooms, all of which are in West London.
Its hotels in London include the 611-room Millennium Gloucester Hotel London, 307-room Biltmore Mayfair, 222-room Millennium Hotel London Knightsbridge, 212-room The Bailey’s Hotel London Kensington, and 158-room Chelsea Harbour Hotel & Spa.
One additional hotel, the Millennium Hotel London Knightsbridge, is currently closed and undergoing a renovation due to be finished next year.
Kwek Leng Beng, CDL’s executive chairman, said the Holiday Inn deal now means CDL owns “two of the largest freehold sites in London’s most affluent (borough), Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.”
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to secure an ultra-prime freehold site in Central London. Freehold sites in this location are exceptionally scarce,” he added.
The news appears to put a line under the dispute at CDL between Kwek Leng Beng and his son, CEO Sherman Kwek, concerning what Kwek Leng Beng claimed was an “attempted coup” to control CDL’s board. On February 26, the firm halted trading its shares, but on March 12 the firm said “all the board members have agreed to put aside their differences for the greater good of CDL and its stakeholders.”
CDL owns hotel brand Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, which has more than 160 hotels, and a small handful of other hotels, including the St. Regis Singapore.