Administrators of the collapsed von Essen hotel chain are reported to be disputing a claim by the chain's founder Andrew Davis that it could pay its debts in full and be left with a surplus of £22m to pay off unsecured creditors.
A valuation of the company's properties, which include two Wiltshire hotels – Bishopstrow, near Warminster, and Woolley Grange, near Bradford-on-Avon – as well as Bath's iconic Royal Crescent Hotel, found they are likely to be worth less than £200m compared with the £256m banks are thought to have lent Bath-based von Essen.
Companies involved in fitting out the luxury hotels are also owed £1.2m with other claims totalling £276,000, reports claim.
The group's 28 properties include Clivedon in Berkshire – the luxury hotel which played a key role in the Porfumo scandal. They are likely be split up rather than sold as one company.
