Bed, Bath & Beyond

The ever-ambitious YTL Hotels has opened its first UK property, with the addition of the historic Gainsborough Bath Spa to its stable.

- Angeline Tse

To call YTL Corporation “vast” would be an understatement. Headed by Malaysian Francis Yeoh, it was originally a construction company that expanded into utilities, property development and cement manufacturing, among other things. It also owns a slew of luxury boutique hotels and resorts worldwide, including the award winning Pangkor Laut Resort, the Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur, and the Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel.

And thanks to its acquisition of a UK-based water and sewage treatment business called Wessex Water, it gained direct access to Bath’s famed natural hot springs, which led to the subsequent addition of The Gainsborough Bath Spa to its hotel stable last year.

This heritage hotel, which offers the only natural thermal spa within a hotel in the UK, is YTL Hotels’ first property there. It makes business sense, when you consider not just its spa heritage (it already has a good number of acclaimed Spa Villages scattered throughout Malaysia), but also its penchant for history and nostalgia, as seen in its Classic Hotels collection, which includes The Majestic Malacca and the Cameron Highland Resort. But, while its hotel properties may be diverse and eclectic, the YTL Hotels philosophy of delivering inspired experiences to guests is the common thread that runs through the properties.