Chelsea Bridge Hotel is a modern development which sits between Battersea Power Station and Battersea Park. The hotel, which is anticipated to gain a 4* rating, will have 218 rooms of which 66 are for sale.
Unlike other ‘invest hotels’ in London, and unusually for the market as a whole, the Chelsea Bridge Hotel will be owned and operated by established hoteliers: the Portuguese Pestana Group.
Latest research provides some promising reports on the market: London hotels have the highest occupancy rate in Europe at 83.6%, according to the Deloitte Hotel Benchmark Survey published in November 2007. Furthermore, a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers reveals the RevPAR (hotel terminology referring to the revenue available per room) has increased in London by 33% in the past five years.
The launch price of the rooms is £295,000 plus VAT. One-bedroom flats in the surrounding Berkeley Homes development have almost sold out, achieving prices of between £450,000 and £480,000.
Managing Director of Pestana Group, Peter Booth says: ‘Buying a room at the Pestana Chelsea Bridge Hotel is a way of investing in London’s burgeoning hotel and property market without an enormous outlay. We’ve deconstructed the condo hotel concept and believe what we are offering our investors is unprecedented in the current market.’
Pestana Chelsea Bridge ‘condo hotel’: room prices start at £295,000
Each of the rooms for sale will be 30sq.m. when the average size of a hotel room in central London is between 15 and 20sq.m. It will include a kingsize bed, an area for working, a small kitchen and bathroom. The rooms are available on a sale and leaseback basis with a commercial lease of 990 years. They qualify as commercial property for pension purposes therefore attracting UK investors who wish to use the tax breaks wrapped up in SIPPs to acquire a room.
Owners will receive 50% of net room revenue with a gross 6% pa guaranteed return for the first two years. Both the hotel and the room owner will invest 2.5% of the rental income into a sinking fund to cover maintenance and renovation of the room.
