Hotels & Leisure

We understand what differentiates hotels from other leisure businesses and leverage that understanding to provide the highest quality legal advice with excellent response times.

Working collaboratively across the firm’s practice areas, our cross-departmental team has the skillsets necessary to meet all of your real estate, construction, corporate, finance, employment, tax and litigation needs.

Our Expertise

We regularly advise on the acquisition, development and/or refurbishment of hotels, with particular experience of four and five star hotel developments in the central London market. We also advise on lettings to night clubs, restaurants, cinemas, health clubs and other leisure facilities, both in mixed-use developments and stand-alone projects. Our legal expertise includes the following:

• All aspects of real estate work including, but not limited to, selling and purchasing hotel and leisure businesses, development advice and deal structuring.
• The full spectrum of construction work, including due diligence for acquisitions, advising on and negotiating building contract and development agreements, and advising on environmental and sustainability issues.
• All aspects of corporate transactions including joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and commercial agreements.
• Advising both lenders and borrowers in negotiating and finalising lending at the right time and on the right terms.
• Dealing with contentious matters including multi-jurisdictional disputes and licensing issues.
• Ensuring all deal structuring and inward investment is as tax-effective as possible.

Track Record

• Advising on the development of a grade II listed Art Deco building in Mayfair into The Beaumont Hotel, a luxury, boutique hotel featuring a unique habitable sculpture by Antony Gormley and its subsequent sale
• Advising on the expansion and refurbishment of a hotel at Heathrow
• Advising a developer on the construction of a new 222 bed Virgin Hotel in central Edinburgh
• Advising on the acquisition and development of The Berners Hotel, W1 for comprehensive redesign and redevelopment into the London EDITION and its subsequent sale to ADIA
• Advising on the acquisition of a family owned group of hotels in Central London
• Acting on the purchase and leaseback of a portfolio of seven Premier Inn hotel sites with ancillary pub/restaurants at a total price of over £50 million for a substantial pension fund
• Acting for a Far Eastern owner/operator on its acquisition and demolition of a central London office block and subsequent development (with £27m of debt finance) of a 275 room hotel
• Advising on a joint venture between a substantial land owner and a major hotel chain for a new 220 bedroom development in central London
• The refinancing of over £300 million of hotel debt
• Advising an overseas hotel business on the optimal business structure for their first UK venture
• Advising a major hotel chain on contractual issues regarding its flagship London property
• Providing anti-corruption training for an international hotels group
• Advising in proceedings based on the Hotel Proprietors Act
• Advising a hotel owner operator on all aspects of their property portfolio and on corporate matters arising.