MWB plans rapid expansion of lifestyle hotels

Marylebone Warwick Balfour (MWB), the investment company and hotel operator behind Malmaison, is looking to expand its luxury lifestyle brands over the next two years.

Jag Singh, joint finance director at MWB, told delegates at the International Hotel Investment Forum in Berlin that he expected the group to have grown to at least 25 properties within the next 24 months.

Currently, there are 16 hotels in the Hotel du Vin and Malmaison stables. Singh told Caterer there was an appetite in the investment community to back the expansion.

"We are securing more equity investment to develop both Malmaison and Hotel du Vin hotels and the interest to do this has been phenomenal.

"We are likely to pick up a few more hotels this year - we are out there searching."

Singh said that the group was looking for the right properties in the right locations to convert to its brands, as there wasn't another suitable portfolio of hotels in the marketplace for it to purchase.

by James Garner

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