THE GROUP behind Hotel du Vin and Malmaison has bought Hotel Seattle in Brighton Marina as part of a £36 million deal.

The deal sees Frasers Hospitality acquire four boutique hotels in Brighton, Bristol, Cheltenham and Exeter from Swire Properties Hotels Holdings.

The acquisition comes on the back of Frasers' recent purchase of the Malmaison and Hotel du Vin, made up of 29 upscale lifestyle boutique hotels, for £363.4 million in June this year.

In the short term Hotel Seattle is expected to remain as it is.

But it is seen as a development opportunity for the hotel group, with details of a refurbishment and potential rebranding as Malmaison to be announced in 2016.

Since Frasers purchased the boutique hotel group it has appointed Gianluca Cugnetto as general manager of Hotel du Vin Brighton, a respected hospitality operator who has held senior directorships in some of the most prestigious luxury hotels and bars in the world.

Hotel Seattle is a 71 room contemporary hotel overlooking the marina and south coast.

The acquisition comes as the £250 million redevelopment of Brighton Marina begins to take shape, which includes a new hotel, seven restaurants, 900 new homes, a new outdoor event space and refurbishment and redevelopment of existing civic spaces.

Choe Peng Sum, chief executive of Singapore based Frasers Hospitality said: “These four stylish and iconic hotels are a perfect fit for Malmaison and Hotel du Vin, and this acquisition is clearly in line with the Group’s expansion strategy of the brands within the UK, Europe and Asia. With these two best-in-class lifestyle brands, we are on track to achieve our goal of operating 30,000 keys by 2019.”

Nick Mosley, vice chairman of the Brighton and Hove Tourism Alliance, said: "This is really good news at an exciting time for Brighton Marina. The addition of 900 new homes to the site, alongside new restaurants, outdoor events space and the soon to be refurbished Malmaison property will create more reasons for visitors to stay and play at the south coast’s largest pleasure marina.

"And its positive to see major development finally happening in the city – particularly on the seafront – after years of delay and stagnation”.

The other hotels are the Avon Gorge Hotel in Bristol Magdalen Chapter in Exeter Montpellier Chapter in Cheltenham.

The inclusion of the four properties brings Frasers Hospitality’s global portfolio to 136 properties across 78 cities and over 22,000 keys worldwide.