JJW has the Wright man for Berners buy

The four-star, 216-bedroom Berners hotel in London has been bought for £51m by Saudi-owned JJW Hotels & Resorts, led by new chief operating officer David Wright.

A major refurbishment of the hotel is planned for next year, to reposition it as "an elegant and traditional club-style hotel".

JJW, established in 1992, comprises the hotel interests of Saudi Arabian businessman Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al-Jaber. It now has 34 hotels in Europe: 30 in France, one in Austria, two in Turkey and one in the UK.

Wright said: "We have been searching for a suitable flagship hotel in London and are pleased to confirm the purchase of the Berners Hotel as our first UK hotel."

Wright joined JJW in June. He was chief executive of the Airtours hotel group, which operates 93 hotels, mostly in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean.