Blackstone Real Estate buys Village Hotels

Blackstone Real Estate has bought Village Hotels from affiliates of KSL Capital Partners.

Village Hotels owns and operates 33 assets totalling 4,400 hotel keys in large regional cities and suburban areas in the UK. It employs over 4,500 staff and welcomes approximately 1.8 million hotel guests as well as over 132,000 gym members of Village Health & Wellness.

It operates as an “all under one roof” leisure destination, offering traditional full-service hotel stays, fitness clubs, food and beverage outlets, and co-working spaces.

The purchase was made by funds managed by Blackstone.

Village Hotels is standout hospitality brand

James Seppala, Head of Real Estate Europe at Blackstone, says, “We are delighted to add Village Hotels, a standout hospitality brand with a unique business model, to our real estate portfolio. We see great potential in lodging and leisure as a sector, especially where we can support strongly positioned businesses that deliver exceptional experiences to their customers. We look forward to partnering with Village Hotels’ seasoned management team and support them as it embarks on its next stage of growth.”

Gary Davis, CEO of Village Hotels, says, “We are incredibly proud of the work we have done over the past few years. We have created a unique brand that offers ‘everything under one roof’ for hotel guests and locals alike. There really is nothing quite like Village. With Blackstone, we see great opportunities to grow our brand further, and are actively looking at new development opportunities, as well as investing in our existing hotels and leisure clubs.”

Expand high-quality portfolio

Jens Blomdahl, Principal at KSL Capital Partners, says, “We are pleased to have partnered with the Village Hotels team to build out a comprehensive hospitality offering and expand their high-quality portfolio — including the addition of more than 1,200 rooms and 45,000 fitness members. We look forward to following Village Hotels’ continued success in this new chapter as part of the Blackstone portfolio.”

Blackstone is a long-term believer in the UK leisure sector. In 2021, Blackstone acquired Bourne Leisure, a premier UK holiday company and owner of Haven Holiday Parks, the largest caravan operator in the UK, and also Warner Hotels, the only hotel chain to cater exclusively to adults in the UK. Since its acquisition, the firm has invested over £550 million across both brands for site and entertainment upgrades and expansions.

Lazard acted as Blackstone’s lead financial advisor, Santander was Blackstone’s financial advisor and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and DLA Piper served as Blackstone’s legal advisors. Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc acted as KSL’s financial advisor and Dentons served as KSL’s legal advisor.