Four seaside hotels within the family-owned Richardson Hotels business have been placed on the market after the company went into administration owing money to the taxman.
Colliers International has been instructed to sell the 58-bedroom, four-star Metropole hotel in Padstow; the Grade II-listed, 71-bedroom, three-star Falmouth hotel; the four-star, 37-room Fowey hotel; and the four-star, 132-bedroom Grand hotel in Torquay, by joint administrators Mark Boughey and Matthew Wild of RSM Restructuring Advisory.
The 52-bedroom Royal Beacon hotel in Exmouth and the 46-bedroom Grosvenor hotel in Torquay have not been offered for sale, despite also being in administration.
The major refurbishment, including the addition of four bedrooms, had been undertaken in a bid to shake of its infamous reputation gained when the hotel was run by Mark Jenkins and appeared on Channel 4âs reality show The Hotel, prior to its acquisition by Richardson Hotels in 2012.
The four hotels placed on the market continue to trade on a business as usual basis.
Ed Jefferson of Colliers International said: âRichardson Hotels Limited and Fowey Hotel Limited have gone into administration, creating a unique opportunity for hotel operators to acquire some of the best-known hotels on the South West peninsula. All have great features that will appeal to a wide range of buyers.
âInterested parties are invited to make an offer either individually, in clusters or as a group. Our clients will decide what offer or combination of offers to accept in order to satisfy the needs of the administration.â
Colliers International Hotels director Peter Brunt added: âThese landmark properties occupy outstanding positions in some of the best loved West Country resorts.
âIndividually, they have dominated their local hotel landscape for years and now offer once in a lifetime opportunities for operators to complement an existing portfolio, or to create a fantastic new portfolio.â
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