Union Investment acquires Amsterdam hotel for €90m

German fund manager Union Investment Real Estate has acquired the 4-star Radisson Blu hotel in Amsterdam. The price was not disclosed but PropertyEU Research has established it was around €90 mln, or €360,000 per room.

The 252-room hotel, located on Rusland 17 in central Amsterdam, is being added to the portfolio of Union Investment's UniInstitutional European Real Estate fund.

The hotel is let to operator Carlson Rezidor Group, with 22 years remaining on the lease.

'There are significant constraints on the availability of hotel space within the first inner-city ring. We are delighted to have acquired an established hotel in this central location. We can now continue our longstanding partnership with Carlson Rezidor in Amsterdam as well, in one of its most successful hotels,' said Christoph Schumacher, a member of the management team at Union Investment Institutional Property.

Savills and CBRE Hotels jointed acted for the seller, Capital Hospitality Group, a private fund that has interests in hotels in Continental Europe, Asia and North America. The fund´s address is Rusland 17, the location of the Radisson Blu. Union Investment was unrepresented.

The hotel's location only a few minutes from Nieuwmarkt, the Royal Palace, museums and other sights makes it appealing to both business and leisure travellers. In 2011, the Radisson Blu Amsterdam received the Carlson Rezidor Group’s Global Achievement Award for the best-performing hotel in Europe.

The hotel consists of a seven-storey North Building and a South Building with six floors. In 1989, the two properties were linked by an underground corridor. The hotel complex incorporates a former paper factory and several 18th century trading houses.

Union Investment's hotel portfolio comprises 38 properties and projects worth around €2.1 bn. It is broadly diversified across 22 brands, a range of segments and eight countries. Alongside Amsterdam, Union Investment's open-ended real estate funds hold Radisson Blu hotels in Berlin, Brussels, Krakow, London-Stansted, Manchester and Marseille.

The Hamburg-based fund manager also owns the Motel One project to be delivered in 2015 and the 207-room Crowne Plaza hotel, both in the Zuidas district of Amsterdam.

AMSTERDAM HOTEL MARKET
Amsterdam is the number one tourist destination in the Netherlands, accounting for 29.8% of all overnight stays in the country.

The number of over-night stays in hotels in the city rose from 10.56 million in 2012 to 11.26 million last year. And in 2014, hotels in the Dutch capital continue to see rising guest numbers, with a 16% increase recorded in the first quarter compared with the same period last year.

The occupancy ratio of Amsterdam hotels is also increasing. The most recent figures from consultancy Horwath show an occupancy increase for the Amsterdam-Schiphol from 76.7% in 2012 to 79.2% in 2013.

Price for room is relatively stable (€118 in 2012 to €117 in 2013) and the revenue per available room (RevPAR) rising from €91 in 2012 t o €93 last year.

Savills aid that investors interest for Amsterdam hotels remains considerable, particularly for hotels in and around the city centre. Recent notable acquisitions in Amsterdam include Hotel Krasnapolsky; Rembrandt Classis Hotel; Room Mate Aitana hotel; The Pullitzer Hotel; Holiday Inn Amsterdam; NH Amsterdam Centre and Park Hotel.