Highgate Acquires LA-based Luxury Hotel Chain Viceroy

Real estate investment and hospitality management company Highgate has agreed to purchase Viceroy Hotel & Resorts, a Los Angeles-based hospitality group that has opened 10 hotels under the ultra-luxury Viceroy brand since 2000.

The purchase price for the transaction, which is expected to close in the first part of next year, was not disclosed.

“Through complementing Viceroy’s platform and DNA with Highgate’s diversified ability to grow through real estate acquisitions, development, and third-party growth channels, Highgate intends to add brand-accretive hotels to the Viceroy portfolio that will further enhance customer perception and brand awareness,” said Richard Russo, principal at Highgate, in a statement.

“Further, through powering Viceroy with a proprietary relationship with Highgate’s operating company, and imparting the benefits of Highgate’s scale, we will be able to provide significant incremental value to associates, guests, owners and partners,” Russo said.

Viceroy 10 current, with two more reportedly on the way in Portugal and Panama, will become part of Highgate’s Lifestyle & Luxury division, joining assets including The Knickerbocker and Park Lane in New York.

According to a report in Hotels Magazine, the acquisition is part of a growing trend of larger companies in the hospitality space grabbing smaller ones that have peaked or can’t accelerate further without the backing of a more deep-pocketed player.

The purchase of Viceroy also gives Highgate its first “name” brand, the report said.

New York-based Highgate’s $20B portfolio includes over 500 owned and/or managed hotels comprising over 84,000 rooms across the United States, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Highgate’s reach extends to adjacent real estate verticals including multifamily, short-term rentals, and diversified healthcare real estate, as well as investments in real estate-linked securities, technology platforms, and hospitality-related operating businesses.

Viceroy’s portfolio of hotels and resorts, branded as “lifestyle-to-luxury” can be found in destinations including Los Cabos, Santa Monica, Chicago, Beverly Hills, Riviera Maya, Snowmass, San Francisco, Washington DC and St. Lucia. In 2020, the brand expanded to DC with the opening of the Viceroy Washington DC and Hotel Zena.