Yorkshire five-star hotel sold in major deal

The Cedar Court Grand Hotel & Spa in York has been sold to Splendid Hospitality Group for an undisclosed sum.

The group will take ownership of the hotel from the end of August following a “very competitive” bidding process. Group chief executive Stuart Bailey told the Yorkshire Post he had not yet decided on a new name for the hotel but added he was keen to keep ‘Grand’ in the title.

Splendid, which controls a portfolio of 13 hotels with nearly 1,300 bedrooms across the UK, also owns the Express by Holiday Inn near Monks Cross and is currently developing a boutique hotel in Walmgate, York, which will operate under Intercontinental Hotel Group’s Indigo brand.

The grade two listed Cedar Court Grand Hotel & Spa was built in 1906 as the headquarters for North Eastern Railways. It was redeveloped, following a £30m investment, as a luxury hotel by Cedar Court Group in 2010.

The hotel comprises 107 guest rooms, including 13 suites, as well as restaurants, bars and conference and banqueting facilities

Kevin Henry, group managing director of Cedar Court Hotels, said: “The sale of our York hotel represents a good result for Cedar Court Hotels and is part of our wider group strategy to concentrate resource and investment into our core estate of four-star hotels.”

Shiraz Boghani, chairman of Splendid Hospitality Group, said: “The York hospitality market is an exceptionally robust one and quite simply, assets of this quality do not come along every day.”

Jon Patrick, director of Christie and Co, who coordinated the sale, added: “It was a very competitive bidding process with international interest.”