janetla

Just seen a report in the Star that the hotel is to re-open under the name of The Quays, and is going to be run by a company called Legacy Hotels and Resorts, on behalf of the owners. The owners , according to this report, are a Sheffield company called New City Hotels, I think that the directors of this company are involved with the company that owned the lease, in fact may indeed be the company that owned the lease. The actual hotel building was owned by Park Hotels and Resorts, a spin off from Hilton International. Talk about wheels within wheels. This spin off company just owned the building , it's a real estate investment company rather than a hotel managing company. It showed on their inventory of hotels until very recently. According to information that can be read on their website, this company wanted out of anything that wasn't 'premier class', and also wanted out of anywhere that wasn't the USA. The company have sold many of their UK/EU hotels over the past couple of years, and we need to be glad that it isn't Britannia hotels that have taken over, as they did the one that was sold in Blackpool. What wasn't made clear is what is happening to the gym/spa facilities. It does make a reference to the fact that the gym will re-open soon, and that these facilities were part of a membership health club. It doesn't say if they are going to re-institute a membership health club on site. Maybe that will be made known in due course. I'd like to see this started up again, the facilities were good, albeit needing some investment but the location of it was so convenient, in a way that very few of the other health clubs around are. It's all very interesting, but I'm pleased to see it re-open as a hotel. The quays area is really nice, and it's a lovely location for all kinds of events.

Been keeping an eye on this story, and there have been many rumours around. One was that someone had been refused planning permission to convert it to student accommodation, yet there is no planning application to be seen, neither accepted or refused. There is nothing on the owners website to say it has been sold, the only one of their properties showing as sold recently is the Conrad in Dublin. The living well members were to have aquarobics classes up to Thursday 12th December, then this last class was cancelled as the pool was going to have to be drained. Then there was a rumour that the pool wasn't going to have to be drained after all, and we thought maybe another hotel group had bought it and wanted to keep the pool useable. To date, though we have no idea. It's such a shame, the other business around will probably be affected adversely, and if the Hilton building is left empty for any length of time, it will just fall into disrepair. It's such a pleasant area too. Sad.

I am trying to find a book called The Middlewood Hospital Sheffield One hundred years 1872 to 1972 by F. T. Thorpe. Its obviously out of print because it's not to be found on any of the book search website. Amazon used to have it for sale, but no longer. Is there anyone out there who has a copy of this book that they would be prepared to sell, or even lend for a while. It's for someone who used to work there and is interested in learning more of the history of the place. Many thanks in advance if anyone does have a copy of this and takes the time to respond.

The Hilton has been making a loss for a few years, just taking a look at the companies house accounts of Park Victoria Quays Lessee Plc tells you how much. It was in the Star a few days ago, about a £2 million loss last year. Thing is though, as this hotel does not fit into the 'core assets' of the owning company, they were never going to try to improve it to see if they could make it a going concern. They were always going to sell it. I see from their website that this company have just sold the Conrad in Dublin, and no rooms are available to book after mid January so maybe that's closing as well. This company have sold many hotels which were not in the USA, and looking at their website, it seems that there are only two non USA ones left. They have recently spent $2.5 billion on an upmarket hotel group so they've needed to find the money from somewhere!! I agree though, even though the amount of money that would have been taken over the Christmas period would have been a drop in the ocean, it would have meant a great deal to the employees to have been able to stay in work until after the Christmas/New Year period. But there you go, American corporate culture is not about considering how it will impact employees, it's all about profit. I've been going to the Living Well health club for several years now and have got to know quite a few of the hotel staff, we all feel so bad for them. We have lost access to our health club which was a social hub for a large group of friends, but we didn't lose our jobs. Interestingly though, there is nothing on the Park Hotels and Resorts website to the effect that the Hilton in Sheffield has been sold, and it still shows on their inventory as being owned by them. I have heard quite a few rumours as to who has bought it, but nothing has been made public. I agree though, the likelihood is that it will be converted into apartments, I'd think it would be a lovely area to live. I have heard it's going to be student accommodation which I should think would greatly upset the people living in the very expensive apartments opposite. Maybe something will come out in due course.

I think that the lack or otherwise of visitors to Sheffield, and the way that Sheffield is marketed for tourism, may inform the success or failure of many businesses in the city, but what has happened to the Hilton is little to do with that. It seems to be just the result of corporate culture, the setting up of property investment companies and the type of property you want in your portfolio to make the most money for your investors. In the case of this particular company, exposure to the 'foreign' market is not deemed to be suitable for the making of money for said investors. Make of that what you will. What I want to know is where is poor old Ronnie O'Sullivan supposed to stay now.

What I have found out is this. The Hilton as a property is owned by a company called Park Hotels and Resorts Inc. This is a property investment company, located in Tysons Virginia, and is a spin off company of the Hilton International. Presumably still a part of Hilton International, but operated completely separately. There appears to be corporation tax benefits from this kind of operation, but as you'd need to be a rocket scientist to understand the IRS it would be hard to know how. It owns, in terms of owning the real estate, but does not manage hotels. This company came into being around 2016, and is set up to provide its investors with income from hotels especially premium properties in prime locations. The company's long term plan appears to be to reduce, or remove its exposure to foreign markets and concentrate its portfolio in the USA. To that end it has sold off Hiltons in the UK, and sold one in Berlin in 2018, and one in Rotterdam in 2019. When this operation came into being, it appears that the Park Victoria Quays Lessee Company was set up to run the Hilton Sheffield. This company was originally set up with 4 UK directors, who then resigned a few months later and 2 US directors (who are active), took over. These two US directors, co-incidentally have their location at exactly the same address as Park Hotels and Resorts Inc. This information is easily available on the Companies House website, and the information about Park Hotels and Resorts is also online. It seems that the Hilton Sheffield is almost the last of this company's inventory to go. It obviously doesn't fit into the company's 'core business', from various points of view. One it's not in the USA, two it's not a premium hotel in a premium location, and three it's not doing that well. I don't imagine any of these decisions about the Hilton have been made overnight, it's just part of this company's continuing way of doing business. It's just very sad that they had to take this decision just before Christmas, and that no-one had the slightest idea it was coming. Of course, it may be that they have concluded negotiations with a buyer, but that information is not available. Or at least I haven't been able to find it yet. It sold off the Blackpool Hilton in 2018, and I understand that Britannia Hotels took it over. I doubt that we'd want that, it has just been voted the worst hotel chain for about the 7th year running!! Maybe it's going to be developed into apartments? It's a good location for nice apartments, especially with all the development that's gone on at Kelham Island. I heard on the grapevine, but this was just one of those rumours that goes round, that it's chinese money that's bought it. We know there is a lot of chinese money in Sheffield with the new development around the moor so it's a possibility. It's very sad for all the staff some of them have been there years, and as members of the Living Well gym know many of them quite well. And of course we all now have to find a new gym!!

A little trawl around companies house site gives some interesting information about the directors (current and resigned), of the company named in the report that has 'surrendered' its lease. A look at the company that is said to 'support' this company makes interesting reading also. Seems to me that the decisions about this have been made by the owner of the hotel building. Again, a deeper look at some of the documentation on the website of the owners of the building makes interesting reading as well.