London’s The Arch Sold to Japan’s StayWell Holdings

Date: November 2018

Location: Marble Arch, London, UK

Name: The Arch – to be re-branded The Prince Akatoki in 2019

No. of Keys: 82

Seller: AB Hotels – owned by father & son team, Abraham and Rafi Bejerano, developed by them and opened in 2010. Their chairman was the iconic Willy Bauer, until 2016, who was known as the man that bought The Savoy back to it’s past glory, during his eight year tenure in the 1980s.

AB also own Sopwell House in St Albans and the Crowne Plaza Resort in Colchester, Essex.

Buyer: StayWell Holdings, a subsidiary of Prince Hotels Inc. a hotel and leisure company in Japan, headed up by Simon Wan.

Abraham Bejerano, proprietor of AB Hotels Limited said that despite having ’no intention to sell’ after being approached by StayWell and seeing the brand’s ‘vision for the property’, the family-owned business made the ‘very difficult decision’ to give the acquisition the green light.

He says: “As a family-run business we will all be very sad to hand over this wonderful hotel which we have seen blossom from its inception and are grateful to the entire team for the marvellous job in creating such a fantastic product and for their hard work, dedication, commitment and friendship.”

“We are confident The Arch London will continue to thrive under the new owners.”

The new Prince Akatoki will be repositioned and extensively refurbished before being unveiled in 2019, with a strong focus on ‘Japanese culture and hospitality’.

Further openings for The Prince Akatoki brand are expected to be announced globally in the coming years.

The Arch is currently home to the Hunter 486 restaurant.

Comment on the acquisition, Masahiko Koyama, president of Prince Hotels, Inc. said: “We are honoured to announce that our first overseas luxury brand, The Prince Akatoki will be opening in the world’s leading city, London.

We are very thankful for being able to come across The Arch London, a well-known hotel loved by guests. Together with StayWell, we will strive to deliver the Japanese culture and hospitality through The Prince Akatoki brand to the world.”

Simon Wan, president and director of StayWell Holdings Pty Ltd said the demand for luxury hotel accommodation in London, particularly Marylebone and Marble Arch area, remains unparalleled, making the opportunity to acquire The Arch Hotel one that the group had to seize.

“Demand in the London hotel market is strong and resilient, however with a shortage of supply, and existing properties being tightly held, it is increasingly difficult for new brands to penetrate the market,” Wan said.

StayWell Holdings and its parent company Prince Hotels Inc operate a combined network of 75 open and operating hotels worldwide, including The Prince Akatoki, The Prince, Grand Prince Hotel, Policy, Park Regis, Prince Hotel, Leisure Inn Plus, Prince Smart Inn, and Leisure Inn.

Prince Hotels & Resorts and StayWell have set a strategic goal to deliver 250 hotels in the medium to long term across the regions of Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Asia, Japan, Taiwan, Oceania, the Middle East, Europe and the United States.

THPT Comment: This is StayWell’s 2nd UK hotel, with the four-star, 253 room Park Regis in Birmingham. I think we’ll see more in Europe in the next few years.

First Seen: Boutique Hotelier