easyHotel checks in to Liverpool
EASYHotel is set to launch its first “super budget” hotel in the North West after acquiring a freehold office and restaurant in Liverpool which it will convert at a total cost of £3m.
The company is part of Easy Group Holdings, the investment vehicles for the family of Stelios Haji-Ioannou.
The group plans to conver the four upper floors of the building into a 68-bedroom easyHotel, which is expected to open in Spring 2016.
The ground floor will remain a restaurant operated by a third party.
Chief executive Simon Campion said: “This acquisition in the centre of Liverpool is fully in line with our strategy to expand our owned hotel portfolio into targeted major UK cities.
“It provides us with the opportunity to create a centrally located hotel for leisure and business customers looking for good quality accommodation at an affordable price. Liverpool has substantial inbound tourism, with over half a million visitors per annum, aided by recent inward investment and one of the UK’s busiest airports.
“This combined with domestic demand means it is an attractive location for an easyHotel.”
The property is located in the centre of Liverpool, three minutes’ walk from the Liverpool One shopping area and the Cavern Club tourist attraction, around 10 minutes’ walk from Liverpool’s main railway station and is also conveniently placed for visitors to Albert Docks’ galleries, shops and restaurants.
Over the past year, following the successful opening of EasyHotel’s owned hotel in Old Street, London, easyHotel has moved its strategy towards investment in freehold owned asset investments.
This has led to the purchase by easyHotel of its 125-bedroom Glasgow hotel in 2013 for £2.3m million, and of a 999 year leasehold office space in Croydon for approximately £1.6m.
EasyHotel owns three properties (easyHotel Croydon, easyHotel Old Street and easyHotel Glasgow) and franchises all other hotels to third party owners and operators.
By March the company had 19 operational hotels comprising approximately 1,300 rooms at hotels operated by franchisees and approximately 300 rooms owned by EasyHotel.
