City hotel to be rebranded after £31m takeover

A BIRMINGHAM hotel is to be rebranded after it was acquired by an Irish group for £31 million.

Hotel la Tour, which opened in Park Street, near Eastside in 2012, has been bought by Dublinbased Dalata Hotel Group which operates the Clayton and Maldron brands.

The four-star hotel will be rebranded as a Clayton hotel by the end the year. Though Dalata already has some presence in the UK, this will be its first hotel in the Midlands.

Hotel la Tour has 174 bedrooms and features a Mr White’s English Chophouse, part of TV chef Marco Pierre White’s group.

It is opposite the proposed HS2 high-speed rail terminal, due to open in 2026.

Dermot uty chief business Crowley, depexecutive of development and finance with Dalata, said: “Hotel La Tour in Birmingham represents an outstanding opportunity to operate a newly built hotel in the centre of one of the largest cities in the UK. The acquisition is consistent with our stated strategy of rolling out both our Maldron and Clayton hotel brands across the larger UK cities.”

Gavin Wright, director in its hotels and hospitality group, said: “This transaction represents the largest hotel transaction in Birmingham this year both in terms of lot size and price per room.

“The Birmingham hotel sector saw its most successful year in 2016 and projects such as the proposed £50 billion HS2 development are making the city an attractive place to invest.”

JLL advised previous owner Hotel La Tour on the sale.