Starboard Hotels and LaSalle Investment Management have acquired seven Accor-branded hotels across the UK from Ares Real Estate Funds and EQ Group for an undisclosed sum. The 913-room transaction gives Starboard immediate scale across five markets while retaining the existing ibis and Novotel franchise agreements.
The transaction covers 913 rooms in Birmingham, Sheffield, Luton, Southampton and London. Starboard will manage the properties under their existing Accor franchise agreements, preserving the ibis and Novotel brands while transferring operational oversight to the new ownership group.
The portfolio comprises three Novotel hotels: Novotel Birmingham Centre, Novotel Sheffield Centre and Novotel Southampton. The four ibis properties are ibis Birmingham New Street, ibis Luton Airport, ibis Southampton Centre and ibis London Barking.
The acquisition increases Starboard’s UK estate to 28 hotels and more than 3,000 rooms. It also takes the number of Accor properties managed by the company to 15.
The geographic distribution offers more than simple room growth. The two Birmingham hotels increase Starboard’s presence in the city to four properties, while the Sheffield acquisition becomes its second hotel there. ibis London Barking gives the group a third London property.
Southampton is a new market for Starboard. Its two acquired hotels are positioned close to the railway station, city centre and cruise terminals, providing exposure to corporate, leisure and cruise-related demand. The ibis Luton Airport, meanwhile, takes the number of Starboard hotels serving major UK airports to three.
This combination of city-centre, airport and port-linked hotels gives the portfolio several distinct demand drivers. It also creates opportunities to consolidate revenue management, procurement, sales and other operating functions across markets where Starboard already has a presence.
The more significant development, however, is the structure of the transaction.
Starboard describes the acquisition as its first private-equity joint venture. Rather than adding hotels solely through individual ownership or management arrangements, it is partnering with an institutional real estate investor to acquire a sizeable operating portfolio.
For Starboard, that provides a route to expansion without relying entirely on the slower process of developing or acquiring properties one at a time. For LaSalle, the partnership brings access to an operator with an established UK platform and prior experience managing Accor franchises.
The existing franchise agreements also separate the brand from the ownership and operating structure. Guests will continue to encounter the ibis and Novotel identities, distribution systems and brand standards, while investment and day-to-day management will sit with the Starboard-LaSalle venture.
Frazer Callingham, Managing Director of Starboard Hotels, said the portfolio should create operational efficiencies across the wider estate and give the company access to cities and properties with further growth potential. LaSalle has also indicated that the acquisition could become a platform for additional investments with Starboard in the UK hotel sector.
The assets formed part of a considerably larger transaction completed in May 2024. Ares and EQ acquired 18 hotels comprising 3,028 rooms from Landsec for a headline price of £400 million.
As part of that deal, long-term leases held by AccorInvest were surrendered and hotel operations were transferred to the new owners. The restructuring gave Ares and EQ greater control over the properties and the ability to pursue refurbishment, repositioning and operational improvements.
EQ has described the sale to Starboard and LaSalle as its final exit from that 18-asset portfolio, concluding a 27-month investment cycle. However, because the value of the latest transaction has not been disclosed, it is not possible to assess the financial return generated from these seven properties.
The buyers have also not detailed the capital expenditure programme or specific improvements planned for the hotels. The early investment case therefore rests on portfolio scale, location and the potential for operating efficiencies rather than on a publicly defined refurbishment or repositioning strategy.
Integrating seven hotels and 913 rooms at once will nevertheless test Starboard’s central systems and management capacity. The opportunity to consolidate functions must be balanced against the need to maintain service standards, retain local market knowledge and manage properties serving different categories of demand.
That makes the transaction important beyond the number of hotels involved. Starboard is moving into a more institutional form of growth, combining an operating platform with external investment capital and established international brands.
Whether the partnership expands further will depend on the performance of this first portfolio. For now, the deal gives Starboard greater national scale, provides LaSalle with an operating route into UK hospitality and keeps Accor’s brands in place as the assets begin their next investment cycle.
