Thistle Hotels
Uploaded by dylanb98 on Oct 31, 2011
This essay discusses the Thistle Hotel chain of the U.K.
I Introduction
The Thistle Hotel chain is one of the leading hotel concerns in the U.K. It has over 55 properties, almost half of which are in London. It is (according to its website) the largest hotel group in the capital.
This paper will explore the Thistle Hotel chain, with emphasis on its business strategies; the competitive advantages of these hotels; how Thistle differentiates itself from its competitors; what their strategy is now and how that differs (if it does) from past approaches; and their growth and diversification strategies.
II History
Thistle Hotels began as Mount Charlotte Investments, which entered the hospitality and hotel industry in the 1960’s. At that time, Mount Charlotte bought several hotels, pubs and restaurants; in 1976, Robert Peel became an executive director. In 1977 he became Managing Director and rose to Chief Executive in 1978. Under his guidance, Mount Charlotte sold the restaurants and pubs and concentrated on the hotels.
During the decade 1978-1988, Mount Charlotte greatly expanded its holdings by acquiring nearly 50 hotels throughout the U.K., mostly in small groups. In the late 1980’s, Mount Charlotte began to look at acquiring large London properties, and in fact, moved its strategic focus to the capital, where it purchased 15 hotels in city center. These acquisitions included the Mount Royal, which overlooks Oxford Street, and the Barbican Hotel.
In 1989, Mount Charlotte made what is probably its most important acquisition: it bought 34 Thistle hotels from Scottish & Newcastle Breweries PLC. This purchase made Mount Charlotte the largest hotel operator in both London and Scotland. Mount Charlotte also bought the “Thistle” brand at this time, and adopted the name as that of the parent company. It also used the newly acquired name as a means to upgrade many of the Mount Charlotte hotels.
Mount Charlotte itself was acquired by Brierley Investments, Ltd., in 1990, and in 1991 Brierley sold 20 percent of its investments to Singapore, and another 10 percent to Tamasek Holdings.
In 1998, Robert Peel left the company and Ian Burke was appointed Chief Executive. (He comes from Bass PLC, which makes one wonder about the connection between the brewing industry and the hotel business.) He divested Thistle of some of its properties in line with a new strategy: that of making the Thistle...