Firmdale acquires Covent Garden hotel

Firmdale is understood to have acquired the Covent Garden hotel in London, which it has operated since 1996.

HVS has reported the group acquired the 58-bedroom property from CBRE Investment Management for just under £55m. Firmdale and CBRE declined to comment.

Owners Tim and Kit Kemp converted the 19th-century building, a former hospital, into a hotel in 1996. The group’s portfolio also includes London hotels including the Ham Yard, Charlotte Street, Soho, and Haymarket hotels, and the Crosby Street and Whitby hotels in New York.

The business forecasted the possibility of record group revenue last year as demand continued to rise rapidly in London, with revenues outperforming pre-Covid levels.

In documents filed with Companies House for Firmdale Holdings for the year to 31 January 2022, the business reported total revenues for its eight operated hotels of £49.6m, 45% of 2019/20 levels, while group turnover was £96.6m against £170m pre-Covid.

For the year, Firmdale reported earnings before interest, tax and depreciation profit of £26.2m and a dramatically narrowed pre-tax loss of £290,000, compared to £80m in 2021.

At the time, the group said it was seeking further development opportunities in both London and New York with a new hotel already in the pipeline in London.

The company acquired the long leasehold interest in three adjacent buildings in Bloomsbury in April 2022, which will be converted to join the group's Town House collection, which also includes Number 16 in South Kensington, the Dorset Square hotel in Marylebone and the Knightsbridge hotel.