PEOPLE
The British Airways letter Arora joined British Airways in 1977 on £ 34 a week. He wanted to be a pilot and was paying for his own lessons at £ 21 an hour, which left room for one a week. To cover the cost he worked evenings at the Penta Hotel, which later became the Renaissance.“ I’ d do my 9 to 5 at BA,” he says,“ get my waiter’ s jacket on and work right through to one or two in the morning. It’ s a work ethic that’ s always been ingrained in me.” When the flying lessons ran out of funding, Heathrow remained large in Arora’ s life. In 1993 he spotted four derelict houses on Bath Road, directly opposite the British Airways Crew Centre, and bought them for £ 161,000— around £ 40,000 each. His wife, perhaps unsurprisingly, thought he was mad.“ I said to her: honey, there’ s plenty of hotels at Heathrow, but there’ s no B & B. Why don’ t we open a guest house?,” he says.“ I guess that’ s really where the journey began.” Crew members who stayed at the Bath Road properties told Arora about how well they were treated in New York compared to how they felt at home when on duty. He saw a crucial gap in the market, began buying other derelict properties nearby and wrote BA a handwritten letter, delivering it across the road. In the spirit of doing business efficiently, its content was brief:‘ I own the land opposite. Would you like me to build your crew a hotel?’. Despite expecting no reply, BA called and gave him an hour. He brought an architect for support but, after 20 minutes they
FOUNDED: 1999
PORTFOLIO: 19 HOTELS ACROSS THE UK, INCLUDING PROPERTIES AT HEATHROW, GATWICK, STANSTED AND GLASGOW AIRPORTS
DEVELOPMENT PIPELINE: £ 2BN TOTAL ASSETS: £ 1.9BN ANNUAL REVENUE: £ 327M EMPLOYEES: APPROXIMATELY 2,500
BRANDS: FRANCHISE PARTNERSHIPS WITH HILTON, MARRIOTT, IHG, ACCOR AND OTHERS
146 May 2026