Big Sleep portfolio acquired by Asian companies

Compass Hospitality Group and Seacare Hospitality have taken over ownership of Big Sleep's three hotels in Cardiff, Cheltenham and Eastbourne. The price they paid for the portfolio has not been revealed but the group was originally put on the market in 2012 for £6.6m, with £2m being sought for the Cardiff hotel, £3m for the 60-bedroom Cheltenham property and £1.6m for Eastbourne (50 bedrooms).

The three hotels will all be managed by Compass Hospitality, which already manages two other hotels in the UK - the 59-bedroom Lion Hotel in Shrewsbury and the 40-bedroom White Swan hotel in Halifax. The Lion and White Swan are both owned by Thai-based conglomerate Fico Corporation.

Harmil Singh, president and chief executive of Compass Hospitality, said, "We are very pleased with the portfolio acquisition of these three well-located and profitable hotels. We will continue to seek out acquisitions and opportunities to grow our presence in the UK."

Matthew Welbourn, executive vice-president of UK operations, who was previously managing director of Akkeron Hotels, added, "Our existing two hotels in Shrewsbury and Halifax have achieved significant performance improvements due to the well-established distribution network at Compass Hospitality. We are confident that similar improvements will be achieved for these additional three hotels."

Compass Hospitality operates a portfolio of 49 hotels in Thailand, Malaysia and the UK.

The Big Sleep was founded by Cosmo Fry, an heir of the chocolate family and a director of Bath's Theatre Royal, opened the first Big Sleep in Cardiff in 1999.

The hotels became renowned for their colourful eclectic designs with sugar pink and baby-blue bedrooms.

Lion hotel in Shrewsbury sold to Thai company >>

Big Sleep's three hotels are to be sold >>

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