The Cumberland Building Society expands hotel portfolio with Rees Mellish

Specialist accommodation-led hospitality lender The Cumberland Building Society has expanded its hotel portfolio with a new seven-figure deal with Rees Mellish Hotel Management. The deal is to refinance and consolidate existing loan arrangements covering Stanhill Court Hotel, an English country manor hotel, and View Hotel, which boasts sea views of the southeast coast. Dave Mellish is the co-owner and founder of Rees Mellish Hotel Management alongside Mark Rees. The pair were introduced to The Cumberland through broker Samuel Kalms from Kalms Property Finance who was ‘instrumental’ in helping the deal to succeed. The Cumberland stated that another “strong pull” for it was Rees Mellish’s alignment with The Cumberland’s Kinder Banking purpose. Mellish said: “We are really pleased to have completed the financing of Stanhill Court and View Hotel with The Cumberland. We were really impressed by the proactive nature and strong lines of communication with Derek, our Business Development Manager. He is incredibly knowledgeable and understanding of the challenges the hospitality sector has faced in recent years.” “Post-pandemic, our debt repayments increased rapidly, and the lack of flexibility shown by our existing lenders around the structure of our facilities highlighted to us a lack of support, which was incredibly disappointing. The Cumberland really listened to us, took the time to understand our business and then were incredibly flexible with us with the structured package they offered. It was an easy decision to go with them.” Derek Smith, business development manager at The Cumberland, added: “Dave and Mark are really experienced and knowledgeable hoteliers and it has been a pleasure working with them to complete the refinance of the two properties. “We’re really proud to support the hospitality industry at The Cumberland and this new addition to our portfolio solidifies our commitment to supporting experienced business owners in the sector to achieve their dreams.” He concluded: “At The Cumberland, our Kinder Banking commitment is to ensure we positively impact our communities, our people and our environment. I know that both hotels are considered to be at the heart of their local communities and Mark and Dave have ambitions to continue to grow their positive impact on the environment. It was clear to see from an early stage in our discussions that our values were very much aligned.”