THE Vazon Bay Hotel has been sold.

UK businessman Hadrian Wakeham finalised his purchase of the two-star hotel this week and plans to transform it. ‘The Vaz’, valued at £1.7m. by Charman & Co., had been on the market since January after former leaseholder Alan Jackson closed the hotel in December because he could no longer afford to run it.

Mr Wakeham confirmed that he had bought the property from George Wilkinson, who owns Guernsey Sheltered Housing, for more than £1m. but would not reveal the exact price.

The premises will now, planning permission pending, be transformed  into a five-star apart-hotel. ‘We are looking, depending on what grading the Commerce and Employment Department gives us, to make it a five-star apart-hotel. There will just be suites, no rooms. Technically they will be apartments and they will vary from two-bedroom to three-bedroom suites. There will also be a disabled-access suite.’

Mr Wakeham, who will move to the island during the winter with his local fiancee, said he had been looking for an exciting business opportunity and had fallen in love with the hotel.