Principal Hotel Company

Principal Hotel Company is a British hotel and conference venue operator headquartered in Harrogate, England.

Principal Hotel Company
TypePrivate
IndustryHospitality
Founded1984[1]
HeadquartersHarrogate, England, UK
Area served
United Kingdom
France
Key people
Tony Troy, Chief Executive Officer
RevenueGB£160.9 million (2013)[2]
ParentIntercontinental Hotels Group
Websitewww.phcompany.com

History

Principal Hotel Company advertises that it was established in 1898, as that is the year the oldest hotel in its chain, Kimpton Fitzroy London Hotel, opened, under unrelated ownership.

The modern Principal Hotel Company was founded in 1984. In 1992, when the chain had 18 properties, it went bankrupt during a recession.[3] Two years later, in 1994, a former former operations director of the chain, Tony Troy, led a management buyout for £68 million by Bridgepoint Capital.[4] In 2001, Princpial Hotels was sold to Nomura International Plc for £255 million, with Troy staying on as managing director.[5] Nomura had just bought Le Méridien and rebranded the hotels to that chain.

The company was reconstituted in 2004, when Le Méridien faced financial difficulties, and Troy took control back of the London, Manchester, York and Leeds properties.[6] In 2006, the chain was sold by the Royal Bank of Scotland to the private equity firm Permira.[7] In 2007, Principal Hotels sold their physical hotel properties to aAIM Group for £270 million and leased them back.[8] That same year, the chain bought Hayley Conference Hotels, becoming the Principal Hayley Group.[9]

In 2009, it expanded through the purchase of two venues from the collapsed group The Real Hotel Company[10] and opened two new venues in France and Spain.

In 2010 the company was taken over by Lloyds, following financial difficulty. In 2012, the company bought back the hotels it had sold to aAim for £200m.[11] In February 2013, Lloyds sold the group to the American investment company Starwood Capital Group for GB£360 million.[12]

In November 2016, Principal Hayley Group went through a major rebranding and re-investment project. The group became known as the Principal Hotel Company and split their portfolio between two groups of hotels; Principal (a group of luxury city hotels) and De Vere (a group of country estate hotels).[13] In September 2017, De Vere relaunched with 22 locations[14][15] and announced the sale of 20 non-core hotels.[16] In December 2017, the Wychwood Park hotel was sold to Mokan Hotels Company for £8 million.[17]

In May 2018, Fonciere des Regions and the InterContinental Hotels Group bought the chain from Starwood Capital for $1.1 billion,[18] with FdR acquiring the underlying property assets and IHG taking over management of the hotels.[19] IHG announced that some Principal Hotels would be rebranded as Kimpton Hotels.[20]

Locations

The company operates 12 locations in the UK.

LocationName
LondonKimpton Fitzroy London Hotel
EdinburghKimpton Charlotte Square Hotel
InterContinental Edinburgh The George
GlasgowKimpton Blythswood Square Hotel
voco Grand Central Glasgow
ManchesterKimpton Clocktower Hotel
YorkThe Principal York
Cardiffvoco St David's Cardiff Hotel
Sandford-on-Thamesvoco Oxford Thames
Oxfordvoco Oxford Spires
DorkingWotton House
LeedsThe Met Hotel

Governance
  • CEO : Tony Troy[21]

References
  1. https://www.thecaterer.com/news/hotel/how-starwoods-new-principal-brand-will-shake-up-city-centres-nationwide
  2. "PRINCIPAL HAYLEY SEALS £300M REFINANCE". Insider Media. 5 September 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  3. https://www.thecaterer.com/news/hotel/how-starwoods-new-principal-brand-will-shake-up-city-centres-nationwide
  4. https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4006991.html
  5. https://www.privateequityinternational.com/nomura-acquires-principle-hotels-for-255m/
  6. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/rbs-takes-its-partners-in-the-le-meridien-hotel-reshuffle-81443.html
  7. https://www.privateequityinternational.com/permira-moves-into-4-star-hotels/
  8. http://europe-re.com/aaim-group-acquires-six-principal-hotels-for-163-270-million-from-permira-uk/31141
  9. https://www.thecaterer.com/news/hotel/how-starwoods-new-principal-brand-will-shake-up-city-centres-nationwide
  10. Leanne Bell (2009-06-25). "Principal Hayley rescues New Connaught Rooms from administration". citmagazine.com. Retrieved 2009-12-31.
  11. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hotel-owner-buys-back-six-sites-szg0jvcrj33
  12. "Lloyds to sell off hotels in £360m deal". The Telegraph. 28 February 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  13. "How Starwood's new Principal brand will shake up city centres nationwide". thecaterer.com. 2016-11-01.
  14. Molly Dyson (14 September 2017). "De Vere unveils brand transformation". Buyingbusinesstravel.com. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  15. "De Vere unveils brand transformation following £100+ million portfolio investment". Hospitalityandcateringnews.com. 15 September 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  16. Janet Harmer (27 September 2017). "Principal Hotel Company to make £200m from 20 hotel disposals". Thecaterer.com. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  17. Katie Pathiaki (20 December 2017). "Wychwood Park hotel sold for £8m". Thecaterer.com. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  18. https://www.hotelbusiness.com/fonciere-des-regions-acquires-hotels-from-starwood-group-ihg-to-manage/
  19. https://www.headforpoints.com/2018/05/03/ihg-acquires-principal-hotels/
  20. "IHG adds 13 luxury and upscale hotels in the UK". 2018-07-04.
  21. "Top 100: Tony Troy, Principal Hotel Company". Thecaterer.com. 19 April 2018. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
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