Hotel Ascot in Zurich under new flag

The British hotel chain Edyn Ltd., London, which focuses on the extended stay and serviced apartments segment, recently entered the Swiss market with its lifestyle brand Locke: In Zurich, the company took over the Hotel Ascot, which is scheduled to reopen as an extended-stay hotel in summer 2023 after completion of planned renovations. Built in the 1950s in the Enge district, the six-story building (3,700 square meters) is to offer 80 rooms in the future (studios and one-bed suites) as well as a restaurant, bar and café.

The latest acquisition for the Locke market is "one of the rare opportunities to gain a foothold in the strategically important Zurich market," says Stephen McCall, CEO of Edyn. The time seems right for Locke to enter the market, especially as the hybrid hospitality sector has recently seen significant growth due to changing traveler demands and new consumer trends.

The purchase price for the Ascot Hotel, which was forced to close in October 2020 in the wake of the pandemic, is unknown. Edyn says Blackstone Mortgage Trust and KSL Capital Partners have extended existing financing, a GBP 195 million multi-asset financing facility, to facilitate the acquisition. The acquisition continues Edyn's rapid European expansion of the Locke brand, which opened new homes in six new locations in 2021, including London, Cambridge, Dublin and Munich. (bw)