Fattal Group – Leonardo Hotels, Acquires the 114-Year Old Dilly Hotel London, Formerly Le Meridien For Around £90m
Main Photo: The Dilly Hotel, formerly The Piccadilly (GrandMet 1970s) and then Le Meridien (Forte 1980s)
Date: October 2022
Name: The Dilly
Location: Heart of London’s Piccadilly, right by Eros and Piccadilly Circus, England, UK
Number of Keys: 280
Seller: Archer Capital
Buyer: Fattal Group
Fattal Group, owner of Leonardo Hotels UK and Ireland, has acquired the 114-year-old Dilly hotel in London as part of a wider expansion plan.
It is understood the property was sold for around £80-£100m and Fattal plans to invest a further £90m into the site to create a leading luxury hotel.
The Dilly opened in 1908 in London’s Piccadilly and at one time had the royal patronage of King George V. It features over 280 rooms, an indoor swimming pool, treatment rooms, squash courts and seven meeting rooms and events spaces.
The hotel, previously Le Méridien Piccadilly, had been owned by Archer Hotel Capital since 2011.
Leonardo hotels operates 52 hotels across the UK and Ireland and began rebranding the Jurys Inn portfolio to Leonardo hotels earlier this year.
It’s central London portfolio includes Leonardo Royal hotels at London City, Tower Bridge and St Paul’s, and the NYX Hotel London Holborn.
Jason Carruthers, managing director of Leonardo Hotels UK & Ireland, said: “We’re very pleased to be adding another high performing hotel and yet another iconic hotel brand with a long rich history to the Leonardo portfolio.
“[The Dilly] is a great hotel, with an experienced management team and dedicated employees, and fits very well into our broader portfolio and our strategy to position Leonardo Hotels as one of Europe’s most significant owner and manager of well invested, and strategically positioned hotels.”
Fattal owns and operates over 200 hotels in 100 destinations worldwide and is rapidly expanding its global footprint.
It has over 150 properties in Europe and recently acquired six Alua hotels in Spain for over €165 (£142m) from a KKR-Dunas JV and nine hotels in Austria in Vienna, Salzburg, and Linz.
Price: Between £80m and £100m …NOT freehold, 90-year lease
Price Per Key: At £90m – £320k
THPT Comment: We hope Fattal will rename the hotel better than The Dilly! Not sure why Archer did that rename….Fab location. Seem to remember it does need some major structural work done on the foundations
First Seen: The Caterer
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