Hotel purchase oils the wheels for new career

Published by

Nicky Godding

A Cheltenham hotel has changed hands following a sale brokered by real estate services company Colliers International.

Beaumont House, on Shurdington Road, has been bought off a guide price of £2.1 million by Fiona Burke, who has moved into the hospitality sector following a 20-year career with BP including working in currency risk management and oil derivative sales.

The Dublin-born businesswoman was inspired to branch out on a new career by co-director Arron Howle, who left the oil industry four years ago to buy the Peartree Serviced Apartments Hotel in Salisbury – also through Colliers International.

Fiona has set up Willow Boutique Hotels. She said: “Though the oil industry is an exciting place for a career and I thoroughly enjoyed my time at BP, following the birth of my daughter I started to look for a new challenge.

“I knew Arron was making a great success of his new business in Salisbury - and achieving a much better work-life balance.

“I’m planning to do something similar at Beaumont House as there is plenty of potential to build up the business, by adding more rooms and small suites aimed at the business traveller.

“They often stay over for two or more nights and love the idea of their own kitchen space. I also want to cater more for families and hope to add spa treatment facilities along with daytime coffee and cakes.”

Peter Brunt, a director in the Hotels team at Colliers International, said Beaumont House was arguably the pick of Cheltenham’s privately owned guest houses.

He said: “This handsome property is believed to date back to the mid-nineteenth century and retains the elegant proportions of the period."

Recent months have seen a flurry of competitive bidding for hotel, guest house and pub opportunities in the Cotswolds and reflect the attraction the hospitality sector in the region holds for buyers, added Peter.

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.