Blantyre Capital Puts Crerar Hotels Up for Sale at GBP90 Million

Blantyre Capital has put its Crerar Hotels business up for sale with a potential price tag of GBP90 million. The investment company has instructed Savills to find the best route forward for the ten-hotel, 589-room collection, which could sell as a single portfolio or be broken up property by property.

The portfolio spans nine Scottish hotels plus one English property. The Scottish assets sit in Ballachulish, Ballater, Dunkeld, Inveraray, Inverurie, Nairn, Oban, Pitlochry and Tobermory. The grouping is completed by the 78-room Daffodil Hotel & Spa on the shores of Grasmere, in the Lake District.

Who owns what, and since when?

Blantyre began assembling the portfolio in 2021, partnering with co-investor Fairtree Hotel Investments. The pair first bought the hotels in Dunkeld, Grasmere and Pitlochry, then acquired the wider Crerar business two years later, in 2023. Along the way they have funded selective refurbishments across some of the properties to keep them competitive for guests. Savills will now advise on whether the collection sells whole or splits once more.

The Crerar name is newer than the business itself. The group was founded in 1902 as North British Trust Hotels and only adopted the Crerar name in 2012, when industry veteran Paddy Crerar took a controlling interest. In the early 2000s the group reshaped itself through a series of disposals, refocusing on a smaller number of four- and five-star properties.

Why sell Scottish hotels now?

The sale tests market appetite for established regional hotel properties at a moment when Scottish hotel performance has outpaced England's. RevPAR (revenue per available room, a key industry performance metric) is up 60% since 2019, reaching an average of GBP100 across Scotland, according to Savills.

Steven Fyfe, director of hotel capital markets at Savills, said: "Scotland's luxury hotels continue to benefit from their appeal to high spending international visitors, particularly those from the US, Middle East and growing inbound markets from East Asia." He added: "The Crerar hotels portfolio provides an incoming owner with a strong platform from which to capture further growth in Scotland's luxury hospitality market."

The buyer logic is twofold. One bidder may want a ready-made regional portfolio; another may target a single destination. Savills' mandate leaves both routes open, and the outcome will signal how investors currently price regional luxury assets versus flagship city hotels.

What have comparable deals fetched?

Two transactions earlier in 2026 point to a liquid market. The 208-room Cameron House hotel on Loch Lomond sold for GBP100 million in the first half of the year. KSL Capital Partners had put the luxury property up for sale, and Victory Group won the bidding. Victory subsequently appointed RBH Hospitality Management to operate the hotel on its behalf, separating ownership from operations in a structure common for institutional owners.

The second deal was smaller but instructive on yields. The Hub by Premier Inn in Edinburgh, a 145-room compact-format hotel, sold for GBP23 million to local investor Lothian Pension Fund, representing a 5.7% yield for the buyer. Oval Real Estate was the seller. The property came with a long lease signed by Whitbread, providing an index-linked rental return — a feature that appeals to pension capital seeking inflation protection rather than operating exposure.

Together the two deals frame the Crerar sale from both ends. Cameron House shows depth of demand for trophy Scottish luxury assets at nine figures. The Edinburgh Hub transaction shows steady institutional appetite for income-secured regional hotels at sub-6% yields.

The GBP90 million asking level across 589 rooms implies roughly GBP153,000 per room for a portfolio of four- and five-star regional properties, many in leisure-driven Highland locations dependent on international high spenders. Whether bidders meet that figure whole, or cherry-pick individual destinations, will be the deal's real test.