Mazard deals spark acquisition policy
By Andrew Sangster
Mazard Hotel Management has signed three new contracts just weeks after losing seven others. The company now plans to grow from its current base of 12 hotels to 30.
The new properties are: the 20-bedroom Creggans Inn, at Loch Fyne, Strathclyde; the 80-bedroom Euro International, Reading; and the 29-bedroom Liongate, Hampton Court. The first two are being run on behalf of private owners.
As with other hotel management companies formed to run hotels put into receivership, Mazard's former mainstay business is drying up as a better trading climate has helped move the property market. Banks and receivers have found more opportunities to dispose of hotels that have been on their books since the start of the recession.
Mazard found this to its cost when 30 Bank of Scotland-owned hotels were sold to Trevor Hemmings in June. It had been running seven of the properties but the deal meant the entire portfolio was immediately placed in the hands of Macdonald Hotels.
To provide stability for its business, currently worth some £700,000 in fee income on a turnover of £16.5m, Mazard has turned its attention to acquisitions. And its close links with banks have meant these are comparatively easy to find.
Guy Macpherson, Mazard's managing director, told Caterer: "We would like to buy between six and eight properties. Having worked with the banks they are very happy to support us."
But Mr Macpherson said he wanted contracts with private owners to make up the bulk of the Mazard portfolio. This meant it would need to make the benefits of employing a specialist hotel company more widely recognised, he said.
These benefits came from a support package that ranged from introducing new financial systems to reviews of capital expenditure, he explained.
"Individual owners most often fall down with their capital expenditure. The problem is usually due to them imposing their individual taste. Or sometimes it's simply that they haven't realised the cost of sales," said Mr Macpherson.
