2012 was a difficult year for much of the leisure industry as many people kept their spending tight for the first six months of the year. But we've seen things loosen up somewhat over the third quarter, as gradual growth starts to slip in.
Unfortunately for some investors, this growth has come to late and a number of larger hotels have not made in through. Among the hotels in administration in the von Essen empire. The group collapsed into administration earlier this year with around £300 million pounds of debt, primarily owed to Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group.
The collapse of the company came as a blow to founder and former chairman Andrew Davis and its employees. But as always, there was hope in the ashes. In an attempt to recover the company's debts, administrators from Ernst & Young sold the group's hotels. They put an asking price of £200 million for the collection, but the individuals and companies that ended up paying the hotels, paid significantly less, with a just £145 million raked in.
Among the bargain properties to be put up for sale was the Halcyon Hotels & Resorts group, which had an asking price of £40.5 million attached to it. This included Ickworth, Thornbury Castle, Fowey Hall, The Elms and three other properties. The actual price paid by investor Nigel Chapman of Halcyon Hotels? Just £30 million.
James Caan, buying in association with Hamilton Bradshaw, got a similar bargain when he purchased Ston Easton Park and Sharrow Bay from von Essen. The asking price stood at £10 million, but Mr Caan knocked this down to just £4.5 million; less than half the original price tag.
Not every business or hotel for sale can be snapped up at such heavily reduced prices. But in the case of large distressed businesses in particular, there is nearly always room for manoeuvre due to the sheer scale of the project and the pressure to repay some of the creditors' debts incurred. 
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