MONTH IN REVIEW
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BRANDS
Jurys Inn
benefits from UK
tourism boost
with record 5
million guests
With UK tourism reaching its highest
since the Brexit vote, hotel group Jurys
Inn has seen a record number of five
million guests stay at its hotels in 2016.
The group exceeded the UK average
uptick (3%) for international visitors,
with a 10% rise in guests compared
with the previous year.
The tourism increase following the June
referendum was an advantage to Jurys
Inn, as the group reported a 17% rise in
international visitors in the month of July.
Jurys Inn also benefited from the
growing trend of ‘staycations’, documenting
a 6% upsurge in British visitors staying at
its hotels over the last year.
Jason Carruthers, managing director
of Jurys Inn, said: “Overall 2016 was
a very good year for UK tourism and
we were delighted to have welcomed
over five million guests to a Jurys Inn
hotel. It was encouraging to see high
levels of growth in both domestic and
international visitors throughout the
whole year, not just the post-Brexit era.”
This increase in guests follows a
€50m investment into the hotel group
by its owners, Amaris Hospitality. Over
the past 24 months, the money has
been spent rebranding, renovating and
extending the Jurys Inn portfolio.
Hospitality and tourism
face major problems in
recruitment if there is any
major cut in the number
of workers allowed to enter
from the EU
Ufi Ibrahim, chief executive of the BHA
May 2017
BREXIT
Hospitality faces
“recruitment
crisis” without
EU migration,
says BHA
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STAT OF THE MONTH
Half a
billion
That’s the number of user
reviews now on Tripadvisor’s
site and app.
M&A
The British Hospitality Association
(BHA) has published a report claiming
the hospitality sector would face a
“recruitment crisis” without EU migration.
A report - Labour Migration in the
Hospitality Sector - from KPMG, and
commissioned by the BHA, said the
hospitality and tourism industries
would be the worst affected by possible
migration restrictions.
Due to the uncertainty of EU
migration after Brexit, the BHA has
estimated that 60,000 workers would
need to be replaced per year as
well as an ongoing recruitment of
200,000 members of staff to power the
industry’s growth.
The report revealed that 24% of the
industry’s current workforce is made up
of EU workers. It also states that 75%
of waiters and waitresses, 25% of chefs
and 37% of housekeeping staff are from
the EU.
The hospitality industry is the first
major sector to lay out a plan in which
it proposes to reduce its reliance on
EU staff.
The BHA has proposed a 10-year
strategy to the government, in which it
lays out plans to recruit more staff from
the UK and steadily decline its access
to the EU workforce.
In the document, the BHA suggests
the hospitality sector should target
Britain’s unemployed population,
returners to the labour market and the
next generation of workers.
South Place hotel
sold to Japanese
billionaire for
£70m
South Place hotel is said to have been
sold to a Japanese billionaire property
developer for £70m.
Details of the deal have not been
disclosed, but the previously Frogmore-
owned hotel is believed to have been
sold to Akari Mori and will still be run
by operators D&D London despite the
new ownership.
Frogmore chief executive Jo Allen
said: “We were delighted to work with
Gerard Nolan & Partners on a pre-
letting of the hotel to D&D, followed by
securing planning consent, undertaking
construction and watching the hotel
revenue grow and stabilise.
“Frogmore wishes the new owner
and D&D every success with the
ongoing venture.”
She added the deal reflected the
company’s interest in developing the
hotel, which was initially designed for
office use.
Marc Nelson, director at CBRE,
which advised on the deal, said: “In
this low interest rate environment, the
allocation of hotel real estate within
investment portfolios continues to
remain attractive to investors, given
the enticing risk-adjusted returns and
ability to appropriately match long-term
liabilities with long-term investments.”
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