One of the United Kingdom’s famed luxury independent hotels, Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf & Spa, will become part of international hotel firm Accor, according to the property’s owner Arora Group.
Arora bought the 228-room hotel in December 2021 and will retain ownership.
The hotel — south of Luton, 35 miles north of London at a point in which counties Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire join — will join Accor’s Fairmont Hotels & Resorts brand. In the U.K., the brand has three other hotels — The Savoy, A Fairmont-Managed Hotel, in London; Fairmont St. Andrews, near the famous golf course in Scotland; and Fairmont Windsor Park in the town west of London where King Charles III officially resides.
Luton Hoo, which covers more than 1,000 acres, will undergo a major renovation.
“This is an exciting project, truly a piece of history in this region, and we are honored that Arora has entrusted it to Fairmont,” said Sébastien Bazin, Accor’s chairman and CEO.
The property dates to 1601 and to give some sense of its historical place in the country:
- It was once the home of John Stuart, formerly known as the 3rd Earl of Bute and a prime minister during the reign of King George III.
- Its grounds were designed by the U.K.’s most famous garden architect Capability Brown.
- In 1902, the owner commissioned architects Charles-Frédéric Mewès and Arthur Davis, who designed London’s Ritz Hotel, to redesign the house’s exterior.
- Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip spent part of their honeymoon there in in November 1947.
- It was 75 years ago this week — June 26, 1948 — when Winston Churchill gave a speech here thanking more than 110,000 people, and the rest of the country and its international allies, for their help and support during and after World War II.
Mewes also designed the Ritz Paris and Ritz Madrid hotels.
Arora, which owns and operates 14 hotels mostly adjacent to London’s main airports, and manages three others, also owns the 251-room Fairmont Windsor Park.
Surinder Arora, Arora’s founder and chairman, said: “Building on our existing expertise with the brand at Fairmont Windsor Park, we cannot wait to commence the redevelopment and bring this stunning hotel back to is full glory and potential.”
Arora bought the hotel 18 months ago from Elite Hotels for an undisclosed sum.