Arora Group buys Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf & Spa

The Arora Group has bought Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf & Spa for an undisclosed price.

THE Arora Group, the UK’s largest private hotel owner-operator, has bought Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf & Spa from Elite Hotels for an undisclosed price, reports said.

The sprawling hotel, which is close to Luton Airport, London, has 228 rooms and is spread over 1,000 acres of parklands, an 18-hole championship golf course, two restaurants and spa. It played host to the Bridgestone Challenge 2017 and 2018 and EuroPro Tour 2017.

A spokesperson told the The Golf Business magazine, London, that the hotel received several offers “from a variety of different types of purchasers” and the “sale demonstrates the confidence in the UK hotel market”.

“The purchase of Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf and Spa continues the journey of portfolio diversification, and the hotel is well positioned to capture the significant pent-up demand from leisure and corporate travel from domestic and international markets,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying by The Golf Business.

Surinder Arora, the chief executive officer and chairman of the Arora Group, said, “Our acquisition of Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf and Spa continues to support our strategy to diversify our hotel portfolio and we are excited to build on the already significant investment and development by Elite Hotels since their purchase of the estate in 1999.

“We are excited to welcome the Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf & Spa team to the Arora Group and are looking forward to the opportunities ahead for our expanded family.”

The Arora Group, which is originally known as a specialist airport hotel owner-operator, set up its first city centre hotel in 2017 when the InterContinental London – The O2 was inaugurated. The next year, it acquired The Buckinghamshire Golf Club.

In a press release, the Arora Group said, "The purchase of Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf and Spa continues the journey of portfolio diversification, and the hotel is well positioned to capture the significant pent-up demand from leisure and corporate travel from domestic and international markets."

Graeme Bateman, managing director of Elite Hotels, said, “Naturally, we are sad to be parting company with Luton Hoo Hotel, but we do so in the knowledge that we have passed the custodianship of this wonderful property into safe hands. We wish Surinder Arora and his team every success as they move Luton Hoo Hotel into a new era.

May I also take this opportunity to express my huge gratitude to Matthew Long, general manager, and all his colleagues at Luton Hoo Hotel, for their considerable personal commitment over the past 14-plus years. We will miss them greatly within the Elite family but are sure that they will continue to thrive and prosper under the new ownership.”

Elite Hotels retains Tylney Hall Hotel, the Ashdown Park Hotel and The Grand Hotel, Eastbourne.

Arora Hotels (a division of the Arora Group) owns/operates several properties at and around London airports, including Sofitel London Heathrow, Sofitel London Gatwick, Novotel London Stansted, Renaissance London Heathrow, among others.

Henry Jackson, Head of hotel agency in the Knight Frank Hotels team, said, “The Knight Frank Hotels team are delighted to have concluded the sale of Luton Hotel & Spa on behalf of Elite Hotels. We received multiple offers for this very special hotel from a variety of different types of purchasers.

"Surinder and his team will make excellent custodians of this truly exceptional asset and will build upon the hard work which Elite have invested into the hotel. This sale demonstrates the confidence in the UK hotel market, and we expect this to continue in 2022”