Experimental Group looks to UK expansion following €350m cash injection

Experimental Group, which owns the Henrietta hotel in London's Covent Garden, has revealed plans to open four to five new hotels in London and the countryside.

The plans follow a €350m (£292.5m) cash injection from private real estate funds managed by Brookfields to expand its portfolio – at least a third of which is earmarked for UK expansion.

The group, which already has six hotels in Europe, including in Paris, Verbier, Menorca and Venice, is also looking to open "a couple of hotels" in New York City before targeting the west coast of North America.

The company is looking at taking over existing sites as well as building its own. It expects to increase its staff from 600 to 1,400 through this expansion and was "very confident the hotel sector will massively bounce back".

Experimental Group was founded in France in 2007 by childhood friends Romée de Goriainoff, Pierre-Charles Cros and Olivier Bon, with the launch of Experimental Cocktail Club Paris. Xavier Padovani joined the group in 2010 when Experimental Cocktail Club opened in London's Chinatown. Last year it also took on the former Roadhouse site on the corner of Covent Garden's Piazza, with plans to relaunch it later this year.

Photo credit: Ludovic Robert