Luxury hotels snapped up in £9m deal

TWO of the city's luxury hotels have been sold in a deal thought to be worth a total of £9 million.

Channings Hotel in Learmonth Gardens and the five-star Howard Hotel in Great King Street were bought by Palm Holdings, which already owns the Old Waverley Hotel in Princes Street.

The purchase price of the hotels has not been disclosed, but the asking prices were 5.5m for Channings and 3.5m for The Howard.

Ricky Kapoor, commercial director of Europoint, a subsidiary of the purchasing company, said: "This acquisition now creates a wonderful collection of unique properties to meet the needs of every type of visitor to Edinburgh. We intend to undertake a refurbishment programme and promote all our hotels under the banner of The Edinburgh Collection."