Claridges Goes Up for Sale for $507M

LONDON-One of the city’s most exclusive hotels, Claridges, has been put up for sale with an estimated price tag of $507 million.

Speculation about the future of the hotel has gripped the market for weeks but now owners the Blackstone Group and Colony have formally put the 203-room hotel up for sale. The move is being seen by analysts as a taster, ahead of a possible sale of the whole company, the Savoy Group, which the joint owners bought five years ago for £520 million ($878.4 million).

Blackstone has refused to comment publicly on how much the hotel would be sold for, but industry analysts experts estimate a price tag of £300 million ($507 million). If the sale achieves this it would set a world record of £1.5 million ($2.5 million) a room.

The Savoy Group includes London hotels and restaurants such as the Berkeley, the Connaught, the Savoy, Simpsons-in-the-Strand, and the Michael, the refurbished restaurant in Claridges.