Hilton Group Might Sell 11 UK Hotels - Several newspapers carry the story that Hilton Group is preparing to sell 11 of its hotels in the UK and hoping to raise between £80 million and £100 million. The press north of the border names three of the properties in Scotland to be sold as the 189-room Hilton Edinburgh Grosvenor, the 101-room Hilton East Kilbride, which stands on the outskirts of Glasgow, and the 208-room Hilton Dunblane Hydro. Hotels on offer in England are said to include the 72-room Hilton London Mews in Mayfair. The Times and others suggest that the portfolio of 11 properties might be of interest to private equity firm Alchemy Partners, which is thought to be looking at ways of growing its chain Quintessential Hotels (QH). QH rose to prominence in April last year when it acquired two UK properties from Le Meridien: Le Meridien Queens in Leeds and Le Meridien Warwick.

A Trading Update From Hilton Group - If the 11 hotels are to leave Hilton Group then they will do so with their heads held high, knowing that they helped their sister properties in the UK portfolio record a 1.5% increase in like-for-like RevPAR for the month of October 2004. The company's trading update for the four months to 31 October showed like-for-like RevPAR worldwide for October 2.3% ahead of the previous year's comparable. Hilton noted that its best like-for-like RevPAR return between July and October – an increase of 5.1% – came from its owned and fixed-lease hotels. The sight of a 19% increase in Hilton Group's pre-tax profit for the period moved Chief Executive David Michels to express his confidence in the company going forward. He also predicted a three-year recovery period for hotels.