 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Hospitality, tourism |
| Headquarters | |
| Website | www |
Maybourne is a Qatari-owned British luxury hotel operator, which owns and manages The Berkeley, Claridge's,The Connaught and The Emory in London, The Maybourne Beverly Hills in Los Angeles and The Maybourne Riviera in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin.
Maybourne, formerly The Savoy Hotel Group has been operating luxury hotels in London with origins that go back 205 years. The group was renamed when the Savoy Hotel was sold off from the original group of four hotels: The Savoy, Claridge's, The Berkeley and The Connaught. [1]
The oldest hotel in the group is The Connaught which was originally built as the Prince of Saxe Coburg Hotel in 1815. [2] It was renamed The Connaught in 1917 after Queen Victoria's third son, Prince Arthur, the first Duke of Connaught.
In December 2019, Maybourne acquired the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, [3] and said the acquisition was part of a global expansion strategy.
The Maybourne name was formed when a group of Irish investors, headed by Derek Quinlan, bought the Savoy group of hotels from Blackstone and Colony Capital in 2003 for £750m. It was decided soon afterwards that the Savoy Hotel did not fit into the plans and was sold to Kingdom Holding for approximately £250m. As the three remaining hotels were in a very poor state of repair, one of the investors, Paddy McKillen, immediately set out on a plan to completely refurbish the properties beginning with The Connaught. [4] Finance for the purchase of the group was provided by Anglo Irish Bank. When the financial crisis hit, Anglo Irish Bank was not able to survive and the group's loans were transferred to National Asset Management Agency (NAMA), a workout bank created by the Government of Ireland in response to the Irish financial crisis.
In a controversial move, NAMA sold the loans which were among the bank's best to the UK's Barclay brothers for their full par value plus all interest owed. This gave the Barclay brothers a once in a lifetime opportunity to launch a hostile attack on the hotel company. [1] The Barclay brothers owned the Ritz Hotel in London and always nurtured an interest in the three Maybourne hotels. They immediately set a pre-pack administration in motion in an attempt to eliminate McKillen's shares and take over the company. McKillen went to the High Court on the day the attack was launched and succeeded in blocking the takeover attempt. [5] This set in motion the most expensive High Court legal action of its time. The case became extremely bitter between McKillen and the brothers lasting five years and costing over £50m.[ citation needed ]
The Barclay brothers amassed shares from original shareholders in the Maybourne Hotel group which McKillen claimed was illegal. McKillen lost every case in the marathon legal action but effectively wore down the Barclay brothers and their interest in the company was successfully transferred to the Qatari royal family. [6] McKillen is no longer a shareholder of the hotel group but provides a consultancy service to the group on a day-to-day basis. [4]
The Connaught on Carlos Place, Mayfair was closed for a year of restoration in 2008. It was reopened totally restored including a modern wing with 121 rooms, an Aman Spa, an underground swimming pool and a restaurant operated by 3 star Michelin chef, Helene Darroze. The chef Jean George Vongerichten runs the hotel's all-day dining restaurant and also the recently opened Connaught Grill. The Connaught bar has won international awards including World's Best Bar (Tales of the Cocktail) and has been voted the best bar in Europe (World's 50 Best 2019). [7]
Claridge's opened in 1898. Designed by CW Stephens, it is located in the heart of Mayfair and became famous for its Art Deco design. By 2004, Claridge's with its famous lobby was also in a poor state of repair. McKillen with the architect Michael Blair won a major planning permission to excavate a five-level basement under the hotel by hand. [8] The hotel maintained normal business while this major work was being carried out. These works were completed in 2022.
In 2019, the hotel unveiled a new restaurant, Davies and Brook, run by chef Daniel Humm, former holder of World's best restaurant at Eleven Madison Park in New York. [9] The hotel is embarking on an ongoing series of room and suite restorations, recently unveiling a new Royal Suite, an Empress Eugenie Suite and a Prince Alexander Suite. [10]
The Berkeley, which was built on its present site in 1972 in Knightsbridge, has been completely renovated over the last few years. In 2017 a major contemporary front façade face lift was unveiled. It was designed by The Pritzker prize-winning architect Richard Rogers. [11] Michelin starred chef Marcus Wareing has his famous restaurant at the Berkeley, and it is home to the Blue Bar. Hong Kong–based designer Andre Fu completed a series of new pavilion penthouse suites at the hotel in 2018. [12]
On 20 December 2019, Maybourne acquired Montage Beverly Hills, its first hotel outside London. [13] It was announced that it would be known as The Maybourne Beverly Hills. [14]
| Photo | Hotel | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Claridge's |  London | Opened in 1856 |
 | The Connaught | London | Opened in 1917 |
 | The Berkeley | London | |
 | Maybourne Riviera |  Roquebrune-Cap-Martin | The former Hotel Vista Palace |
 | Maybourne Beverly Hills |  Beverly Hills | The former Montage Beverly Hills hotel |
No image available | The Emory | London | Due to open 2024 [15] |
 | The Savoy | London | Sold in January 2005 [16] |
Mayfair is an area in London, England and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts in the world.
The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by Carte's family for over a century. The Savoy was the first hotel in Britain to introduce electric lights throughout the building, electric lifts, bathrooms in most of the lavishly furnished rooms, constant hot and cold running water and many other innovations. Carte hired César Ritz as manager and Auguste Escoffier as chef de cuisine; they established an unprecedented standard of quality in hotel service, entertainment and elegant dining, attracting royalty and other rich and powerful guests and diners.
The Ritz London is a 5-star luxury hotel at 150 Piccadilly in London, England. A symbol of high society and luxury, the hotel is one of the world's most prestigious and best known. The Ritz has become so associated with luxury and elegance that the word "ritzy" has entered the English language to denote something that is ostentatiously stylish, fancy, or fashionable.
Claridge's is a 5-star hotel at the corner of Brook Street and Davies Street in Mayfair, London. Claridge's Hotel is owned and managed by Maybourne Hotel Group.
The Connaught is a five-star luxury hotel, located on the corner of Carlos Place and Mount Street in Mayfair, London. The hotel is owned and managed by Maybourne Hotel Group.
Brian James Turner is a British chef, writer and TV personality based in London. He appeared as a cook on BBC2's Ready Steady Cook from 1994, has appeared on numerous occasions on Saturday Kitchen and has also presented various other cookery programmes.
The Berkeley is a 5-star hotel, located in Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, London. The hotel is owned and managed by Maybourne Hotel Group, which also owns Claridge's and The Connaught in Mayfair, London.
Angela Maria Hartnett is an English Michelin-starred chef. A protégée of Gordon Ramsay who became well known by her appearances on British television, she was Chef-Patron at Angela Hartnett at The Connaught in London. Currently, she is Chef-Patron for Murano in Mayfair, Café Murano in St James's & Covent Garden and Cucina Angelina in Courchevel (France).
Eyck Zimmer is an English chef. He was awarded the Chef of the Year in Great Britain 2006 and the Chef of the Year in Portugal 2008. Eyck's initial training was at the Erfurter Hof, part of the Interhotel chain. He then worked in a number of well-known hotels in Europe, Palasthotel, Grand Hotel Regina, The Dorchester, The Berkeley (London), The Lanesborough (London), Claridge's (London), The Ritz (London), Choupana Hills in Madeira and the Lowry Hotel in Manchester, UK. Andel's Berlin Hotel, Germany. From 2010 to 2014 he held the position of Chef de Cuisine at the Hong Kong Jockey Clubs Derby Restaurant. and Bar in Hong Kong SAR. Eyck returned 2014 in the capacity of Culinary Director to the andels hotel Berlin with its skykitchen restaurant, gaining 1* Michelin the same year. After that he was the Chef de Cuisine at the Adlon in Berlin Germany for a short period of time. Currently he is the Culinary Director at the Square Nine Hotel in Belgrade Serbia, a small luxury five star hotel and member of the Leading Hotels of the World.
Sir Hugh Walter Kingwell Wontner was an English hotelier and politician. He was managing director of the Savoy hotel group from 1941 to 1979 and its chairman from 1948 to 1984, continuing as president until his death. He was also chairman of the Savoy Theatre from 1948 until his death. In 1973–74, he was Lord Mayor of London.
InterContinental London Park Lane is a luxury five-star hotel in London, England operated by the InterContinental Hotels Group. It is located at 1 Hamilton Place on Hyde Park Corner with Park Lane, close to the shopping center of Knightsbridge and Piccadilly.
Derek M Quinlan is an Irish businessman prominent in the field of real estate investment and development. A former tax inspector at the Irish Revenue Commission, he formed investment syndicates with high-net-worth individuals to acquire investment properties across the world. His principal investment vehicle was Quinlan Private, a private equity firm with offices in Dublin, London and New York.
Patrick McKillen is an international hotelier, property investor and businessman.
Angela Hartnett at The Connaught, also known as MENU, was a restaurant owned by Gordon Ramsay Holdings and run by chef Angela Hartnett. It was located within The Connaught in Mayfair, London. The restaurant was opened following Ramsay's successful opening of Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's, within the Claridge's hotel, which is owned by the same equity group. Ramsay had originally been asked to move Restaurant Gordon Ramsay into the space, but suggested that Hartnett should run a new operation there instead. The restaurant was awarded a Michelin star in the 2004 guide and held it until it closed in 2007.
Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's was a restaurant owned by Gordon Ramsay and located with Claridge's hotel in Mayfair, London. Blackstone Group had enquired about Ramsay's availability to open a restaurant after he was awarded three Michelin Stars at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. It marked the first of a number of restaurants that Ramsay would open at hotels owned by Blackstone. It opened in 2001, and by the fourth year was making a profit of £2 million a year. Mark Sargeant was the chef de cuisine of the restaurant until 2008, during which time the restaurant was awarded a Michelin star.
Montage International is a luxury hotel and resort management company founded by Alan Fuerstman and based in Irvine, California. As of 2022, it operates 14 properties in the United States and Mexico, with seven of those properties under the Montage Hotels and Resorts brand and seven under its Pendry Hotels and Resorts brand.
Josh Emett is a chef from New Zealand. He is co-owner of Onslow restaurant at 9 Princes St Auckland, The Oyster Inn on Waiheke Island and most recently Gilt Brasserie in Auckland with his wife Helen. He was the co-founder of Rata restaurant in Queenstown and restaurant chain Go-To Collection which includes Madam Woo, and Hawker and Roll. Emett worked for Gordon Ramsay for over 10 years, and has been a judge on MasterChef New Zealand.
"Little Doha" is the nickname given to an area of Mayfair in central London that has a high concentration of properties owned by the Al-Thani family, the ruling family of Qatar, and their relatives and associates. By 2006, Qatari interests owned £1 billion of property in London, and a quarter of Mayfair's 279 acres. As well as housing and commercial property, they own two of the area's most well-known luxury hotels, The Connaught and Claridge's.
