Big expansion for GuestInvest

GuestInvest, the company behind the UK's first buy-to-let scheme for hotels, has announced a massive £300m expansion plan just two months after launching.

The group, set up by entrepreneur Johnny Sandelson, plans to buy 30 hotels across the UK over the next 18 months. It is looking at properties in major commercial towns in Scotland, the Midlands and the South-west, including Edinburgh, York, Manchester, Bristol, Oxford and London.

The buy-to-let deal enables investors to buy their own room in a hotel. They can stay in it for as many as 52 nights a year but it is let out for the rest of the year.

GuestInvest's first property, Guesthouse West in London's Notting Hill, has already sold 16 of the 20 rooms it put up for sale at a price of £235,000 each.

"The first 50 days of trading have shown projected returns outstripping original forecasts," said Sandelson, "and in the eight weeks since launch we've received more than 10,000 enquiries from investors interested in getting involved in the scheme."

GuestInvest had originally forecast occupancy levels of 65%, but said figures for the first 50 days showed occupancy levels at 76.4%. Sandelson added: "Now the time is right to expand and build up our network of GuestInvest hotels."

The expansion is being funded through private investment.