Phase one completed summer 2019

New luxury camping offer in Croatia

Located in one of Croatia’s most popular destinations, Istria, Arena Kazela Campsite is situated on the southern part of Medulin (a top five tourist destination in Croatia by number of overnights) overlooking the Kvarner Bay and is just a few kilometres away from the city of Pula.

It is the largest of our eight campsites and offers holidaymakers the ultimate in peace and tranquillity on the edge of the Adriatic Sea, with direct access to a two-kilometre-long beach overlooking the Medulin archipelago and crystal-clear Adriatic Sea. Its stunning location made it the obvious choice to launch a brand-new style of luxury camping homes.

The campsite season in Croatia runs between April and November. Following the end of the 2018 season, we immediately began the first of a two-phase, two-year investment programme to transform the site and inspire our guests with a new luxury camping offer.

The campsite was unveiled to guests in July 2019 and was well received. On Booking.com the repositioned site has a rating of 9.0 based on more than 500 reviews.

In total, the plan is to invest £25 million to fully reposition this site. Phase one was completed in June 2019 at a cost of £19 million and to date has delivered a strong increase in revenues and profitability underpinned by an increased average daily rate of over 40% and a revenue uplift of more than 30%.

Phase two of the project will complete in summer 2020.

Launched October 2019

High quality property in desirable neighbourhood

Vondelpark is Amsterdam’s own Central Park. Located in the desired uptown neighbourhood of Oud-Zuid which is home of the museum quarter, the park is the largest in Amsterdam.

In recent years, Vondelpark has benefited from significant investment in cafés, restaurants and ongoing upkeep and it attracts a consistently high number of locals and visitors.

We identified that repositioning the property with the aim of offering an enhanced guest experience would both increase the value of our freehold as well as deliver operational uplift.

Completed May 2019

Bringing a unique lifestyle brand to Central London

Formerly known as Park Plaza Sherlock Holmes London, Holmes Hotel London is located close to Marylebone, which has long been a fashionable area of London. The area brings together unique independent restaurants and boutique shopping along its High Street, and convenient access to tourist hot spots including Madame Tussauds, the Sherlock Holmes Museum and Oxford Street, renowned for shopping.

We undertook an extensive £9m repositioning programme to maximise the property’s hospitality real estate potential and provide guests with a premium boutique offer which reflects the local area’s growth and high end development in recent years.

A new restaurant concept was also introduced. Kitchen at Holmes is a seasonally-inspired all day restaurant and neighbourhood bar led by Head Chef Stefano Motta. This is a high quality destination restaurant accessible from Chiltern Street, with a separate entrance to the Holmes Hotel itself, attracting not only hotel guests but all food lovers.

The second phase of the repositioning project included the redesigning of all of Holmes’s 118 rooms as well as meeting and events facilities to better reflect the hotel’s creative clientele. The meetings and events offering will be completed in 2020 and will boast a new self-contained space in the basement including a kitchen and breakout spaces.

A new, highly experienced management team has been appointed to lead the newly repositioned Holmes Hotel London. The hotel was unveiled in late spring 2019. Holmes Hotel London’s reimagined design, layout and upper upscale lifestyle service level have been positively received by customers since reopening, demonstrated by an average Guest Rating Score of 92.1% across independent websites.

Completed October 2019

Property transformed to meet the expectations of today's business and leisure travellers

This property is in a prime location adjacent to Utrecht Central Station and Jaarbeurs exhibition centre, in the heart of the business district of Utrecht; the Netherlands’s fourth largest city.

The city attracts a high percentage of corporate guests as well as leisure travellers exploring the city’s many attractions, including its medieval old town, canals, monuments and university.

The city itself is undergoing a vast re-development programme to upgrade its infrastructure and offering.

In 2018 we unveiled our investment plans to reposition this hotel to offer enhanced, modernised services to inspire our guests and to meet the demands of today’s traveller. The interior design of the property focused on Utrecht’s rich history and takes inspiration from the Manifesto of De Stijl, a Dutch artistic movement founded by Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg.