The multi award winning, 615 bed, Smart City Hostel in Edinburgh, operated by Starboard Hotels since 2009 is to be sold to Safestay plc, owners and operator of UK based hostels, for £14.9 million as part of a planned disposal by owners Blackfriars Property LLP. Completion of the sale is set to occur in September.
The hostel, located just off the famed Royal Mile, was rescued from administration in 2009 and rejuvenated into a robust profitable operational business by Starboard. The hostel is a unique hybrid-student/hostel model which sees some rooms leased to Edinburgh University as single use accommodation during term time and then converted to multi-bed rooms during the peak summer season, housing up to 615 people and catered for in the popular Bar50.
Paul Callingham, managing director of Starboard Hotels, comments: “We are thrilled to have been part of the success of this great business and to have assisted in this strategic sale, returning excellent value for our partners. The business will be in safe hands, being operated by the current team, headed by General Manager Ruth Kerr who has been with the business for nearly 8 years.
“Having purchased 7 hotels this year, we are keen to focus on our multi-branded portfolio of over 800 hotel bedrooms, and the sale of Smart City puts us in a strong position to push forward with further acquisition plans in the UK of branded and unbranded hotels.”
About Starboard Hotels
Starboard Hotels is an award winning owner and operator of franchised hotels under the world’s leading brands such as Ibis (Accor), Holiday Inn Express (IHG), Days Inn (Wyndham), Best Western.
Hotels in Starboard’s operating portfolio include the Ibis Gatwick, Plymouth, Leicester, Sheffield, and Birmingham Bordesley Circus; Best Western Carlton Hotel Blackpool; Days Inn Wetherby; Holiday Inn Express Greenock; and the multi award-winning Holiday Inn Express Burnley.
Most recently, The Holiday Inn Express Burnley was presented with the IHG’s Developing People 2014 award for its outstanding achievements in encouraging people to pursue a career in the hospitality industry. The hotel has also been awarded the IHG Torchbearer 2010 EMEA Hotel award, won the category of Best Small Group Hotel Employer in Hospitality in 2013, and placed fourth in the Top 50 Best Employers in Hospitality at the Best Employers in Hospitality Awards the same year.
Starboard Hotels is a franchisee of Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) and Wyndham Hotel Group and has a number of ongoing active business projects in key UK locations.
For more information click here