Dubai’s Al Habtoor Group buys Hilton London Wembley hotel

Dubai-based Al Habtoor Group has acquired the Hilton London Wembley in the United Kingdom as part of a major international push.

Located close to the Wembley Stadium, the hotel features 361 rooms and suites, an indoor swimming pool and a fitness centre with sauna and steam rooms.

Food and beverage outlets include the Icons Bar, Grill & Terrace, The Associations Restaurant – which serves British cuisine – and the Sky Bar 9.

The hotel – which opened in 2012 – also features a 693 square metre Grand Ballroom that can host up to 700 people and 10 meeting rooms.

Chairman Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor said: “I am delighted with the addition of the Hilton London Wembley. I have been looking at the London market for some time. The hotel is in an ideal location.”

The Hilton London Wembley overlooks the national stadium located within Wembley Park, an 85-acre regeneration project involving the development of large-scale retail, residential, offices and entertainment facilities.

No investment details were revealed.

The acquisition brings the total number of hotels in Al Habtoor Investment’s international property portfolio to six.

The group has two Hilton-branded hotels in Lebanon and one in the United States– President Abraham Lincoln Springfield, a DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel.

It also has two five-star hotels in Hungary– InterContinental Hotel Budapest and Elizabeth Park Hotel.

The Al Habtoor Group has been expanding its hospitality portfolio both internationally and locally over the past few years.

The group’s Dubai assets include the Habtoor Grand Beach Resort & Spa, Autograph Collection and the Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah.

It also recently opened the first hotel within its massive Al Habtoor City complex – The St. Regis Dubai. Two more hotels within the multi-use development will open in the coming months (W Dubai – Al Habtoor City, and The Westin Dubai, Al Habtoor City).

The company is also developing a large-scale project in Dubailand – The Al Habtoor Polo Resort & Club, which will see a St. Regis as the centrepiece. It is also in the process of developing a new Metropolitan Hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road.

In December 2015, Al Habtoor said he had allocated Dhs 2bn for overseas investments in 2016. The chairman has also revealed plans to enter the Egypt market.