Los Angeles Business Journal
12/23/19

Montage Beverly Hills Sells for Estimated $415 Million
By Hannah Madans

https://labusinessjournal.com/news/2019/dec/23/montage-beverly-hills-sells-415-million/

The prestigious Montage Beverly Hills hotel has sold for the estimated price of $415 million to a British hotel company.

Maybourne Hotel Group announced that it had purchased the famed property, the company’s first hotel outside of London, but did not provide a purchase price.

Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group said the purchase price for the 201-room Montage was $415 million. That makes it the highest per-room sale price this year and a record per-room price in California.

“It’s Beverly Hills,” Reay said. “It is one of the most desirable areas in the entire United States. (There are) huge barriers to entry (in the market), it is a trophy hotel, and it’s purchased by a company out of London that really only specializes in trophy hotels.”

Maybourne Hotel Group, formerly known as the Savoy Hotel Group, operates Claridge’s, The Connaught and The Berkeley in London.

Maybourne will announce plans for changes to the Beverly Hills property in 2020. In a press release, Maybourne said the acquisition was part of a global expansion strategy.

“We are excited to have our first property outside of London, and where better than the city of Beverly Hills,” Maybourne’s Paddy McKillen said in a statement. “We plan to bring some of the inspiration and creative energy to Montage Beverly Hills that has made our London hotels so successful.”

Reay said he anticipates Maybourne will upgrade the furniture and fixtures but doesn’t “see them doing any major construction work because it is a fantastic hotel.”

There are few trophy hotels on the market in Los Angeles and Orange County, Reay said, except for the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel.

“It speaks volumes for where we are at in the market in terms of trophy hotel assets,” Reay said. “There is still big demand for these kind of assets. It speaks volumes to why people are willing to spend this kind of money on one asset to the safety of assets in the United States.”