Ramada Jarvis was a chain of

4 star 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the H ...

and 5 star hotels mostly located throughout the mainland of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, with a few managed internationally. The group's 42 hotels in the UK and five overseas went into

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...

in 2011.

History

The business was founded by John Jarvis who floated it on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

in 1996 when it was valued at about £495 million. The company was taken private in 2003 in a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management- and/or leveraged buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...

for £159 million. Ramada Jarvis went into liquidation on 30 September 2011 as a result of a severely restricted cash flow caused by the Group's principal bankers calling in loans before their term. 26 hotels were acquired by Jupiter Hotels Limited, a 50:50

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

between Patron capital and West Register, part of the Global Restructuring Group of the

Royal Bank of Scotland Group NatWest Group plc is a British banking and insurance holding company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The group operates a wide variety of banking brands offering personal and business banking, private banking, investment banking, insurance and ...

. Those hotels have been re-branded

Mercure Hotels Mercure is a French midscale hotel chain owned by Accor. Created in 1973 in France, the brand was acquired by Accor in 1975, and subsequently became a major part of the company's midscale hotel portfolio, alongside Novotel. As of 2021, Mercure op ...

under a

franchise agreement A franchise agreement is a legal, binding contract between a franchisor and franchisee. In the United States franchise agreements are enforced at the State level. Prior to a franchisee signing a contract, the US Federal Trade Commission regulates i ...

with

Accor Accor S.A. is a French multinational hospitality company that owns, manages and franchises hotels, resorts and vacation properties. It is the largest hospitality company in Europe, and the sixth largest hospitality company worldwide. Accor ope ...

. The joint venture investors are injecting £40m, with debt financing of £71m provided by RBS,

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

and

Bank of Ireland Bank of Ireland Group plc () is a commercial bank operation in Ireland and one of the traditional Big Four Irish banks. Historically the premier banking organisation in Ireland, the bank occupies a unique position in Irish banking history. At ...

, which were the original lenders to Jarvis. Not all the Ramada Jarvis hotels were included in the Jupiter Hotels deal, so the Ramada

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

and the Ramada

Glasgow Airport Glasgow Airport, also known as Glasgow International Airport () and formerly Abbotsinch Airport, is an international airport located in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, west of Glasgow city centre. In 2019 it handled 8.84 million passe ...

continue to trade as

Ramada Ramada is a large American multinational hotel chain owned by Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. As of December 31, 2022, it operates 851 hotels with 120,344 rooms across 63 countries under the Ramada brand. Name The ''Ramada'' name derives from th ...

hotels, each as a franchise. In August 2012 the Ramada Heathrow property was re-branded as a

DoubleTree by Hilton DoubleTree by Hilton is an American hotel chain managed by Hilton Worldwide. DoubleTree has been the fastest growing Hilton brand by number of properties since 2007, and by number of rooms from 2007 to 2015. , it has 587 properties with 135,745 ...

. In September 2016 the Ramada Glasgow Airport was rebranded as

Courtyard by Marriott Courtyard by Marriott is an American brand of hotels owned by Marriott International. One of Marriott's High-priced brands with 5 star hotels, the hotels are primarily targeted to business travelers, but also accommodate traveling families. As o ...

. The Ramada Jarvis at Junction 25 of the M1 was privately bought and now operates under the

Best Western Best Western International, Inc. owns the Best Western Hotels & Resorts brand, which it licenses to over 4,700 hotels worldwide. The franchise, with its corporate headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, includes more than 2,000 hotels in North America. ...

banner.

References

Hotel chains in the United Kingdom Hospitality companies of the United Kingdom Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Defunct hotel chains Ramada {{UK-hotel-stub