Hand Picked Hotels, the privately owned and managed Hotel Group, today announced a strategic partnership with the luxury, family owned and historic Flemings Mayfair Hotel and Hertfordshire's Down Hall Country House Hotel.
The agreement, which comes into effect on April 1st, ensures that Flemings Mayfair Hotel, and its sister Down Hall Country House Hotel, will now be represented by the 17 strong Hand Picked Hotels collection. They will both benefit from a co-ordinated sales and marketing platform targeting London and the provinces.
It is the intention of both parties to keep the brands separate but optimise promotional opportunities with joint participation in a wide range of sales and marketing activities. Recognising the challenging market conditions, both groups have also made a commitment to look at common purchasing initiatives which allow both to benefit from aggregated purchasing volumes, to reducing operating costs.
While both parties will benefit from economies of scale, Flemings Mayfair gives Hand Picked Hotels a presence in central London. The partnership also allows both to benefit from combining an international and domestic customer base - giving the combined group a strong presence in the UK hotel scene.
Douglas Waddell, Operations Director of Hand Picked Hotels, said: "For some time now we have been looking to identify a suitable London partner who will give our existing customer base a similar type of product and experience to that of the other 17 distinguished properties in the Hand Picked Hotels Group. In Flemings Mayfair Hotel we could not have found a more suitable partner and alongside Down Hall Country House Hotel, helps us to strengthen our distribution network with a product which is of the same standard as Hand Picked Hotels and has a similar approach to looking after guests."
Simon Scarborough, Operations Director of Flemings Mayfair and Down Hall Country House Hotel added: "We all are looking for creative ways to overcome these challenging market conditions. A special relationship with Hand Picked Hotels at this time will allow us to increase our sales and marketing activity and reach new customer bases without increasing our costs. We are delighted to have found a partner Group with a like-minded approach to the welfare of our guests and who has a desire to look at practical ways of sharing costs whist maintaining the consistency of experience".
EXPANSION BACKGROUND
HAND PICKED HOTELS CONTINUES ITS EXPANSION AND INVESTMENT PLANS
Hand Picked Hotels' new strategic alliance with Flemings and Down Hall Hotels follows on from last year's acquisition of three hotels and forms part of a planned expansion and investment programme by the group.
Last year three new hotels were added to the collection of country house hotels across the UK when Hand Picked Hotels bought Hendon Hall Hotel in Hendon, North London, Audleys Wood Hotel in Basingstoke, Hampshire, and New Hall Hotel, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham.
Approximately £3.2 million in total has been invested in the new hotels over the last 12 months by former City lawyer Julia Hands, who created the group in 2001, from a collection of hotels purchased with her husband, city financier Guy Hands.
At New Hall Hotel, £1.1 million has been invested in upgrading the bedrooms, the health club and creating a new garden pavilion for weddings and celebrations. Around £1.4 million has been spent upgrading bedrooms and on the refurbishment of the garden pavilion at Audleys Wood Hotel. Hendon Hall Hotel has had a new conference suite and bedroom upgrade at a cost of £700,000. Leisure, weddings and the business, meetings and events market are key targets for the group.
Ken Arkley, commercial director of Hand Picked Hotels, said: "Our three new hotels have been excellent acquisitions for our portfolio. Our continuing investment over the last year in light of current market conditions demonstrates our commitment to develop these hotels and ensure the new hotels properly reflect the brand. This latest investment follows more than £70 million invested in restoring and developing the original 14 Hand Picked Hotels.
Julia Hands, chairman and chief executive, said: "Our philosophy of letting each hotel develop its own individual character appeals to guests across the leisure, meetings and weddings markets. As more people opt to stay in the UK this year, we believe that a creative approach offering added value to attract new guests will be more important than ever."