A LUXURY North Yorkshire hotel has been saved from administration by a developer.

Harrogate-based property business, Yorkshire Ventures has acquired Raithwaite Estate, at Sandsend near Whitby, after the 80-bed hotel was placed in the hands of administrators.

With the backing of York-based pension lender, Grosvenor Financial Consultants, the business intends to further develop the site.

The deal will see the firm acquire the hotel, spa and restaurant, along with 100 acres of estate and seven luxury cottages. Yorkshire Ventures have secured planning consent to develop a further 46 cottages, with work set to begin this March. The work will create 50 new jobs, with local construction firms and suppliers winning the majority of the new tenders and contracts.

Yorkshire Ventures’ owner Richard Jackson said: “This property is a Yorkshire gem in a fantastic coastal location. It has been renovated to an incredibly high standard, and that’s why the hotel business has a good foundation and such enormous potential.

“The opportunity remains to develop a further 46 cottages, which already have current planning consent, and we are all ready to finish the site to the same five-star luxury standard as the hotel,” he added.

Yorkshire Ventures has appointed hospitality management company Inn-telligence to run the hotel. The team is headed by Penny Brown and Meinhard Huck, both previously senior executives with Raffles Hotels and Swissotels, of which Mr Huck was president.

Inn-telligence has worked on a range of high profile luxury hotel management projects including Sir John Madejski’s Royal Palm Hotel in Galapagos.

The deal received the backing of Mark Pepper’s York-based Grosvenor Financial Consultants, which held the ownership of the land and assets.