Barclay Brothers Sell 10% Stake In InterContinental Hotels Group

David and , owners of the Telegraph Media Group and the 133-room Ritz hotel in London, have checked out of InterContinental Hotels Group by selling their 10% stake in the global hotel company. The billionaire brothers’ Ellerman Corporation has sold nearly 30 million shares for 1,120 pence each, a total of approximately £335 million (US$520 million).

Royal Bank Of Scotland Selling Its Six Remaining Hilton Hotels

It has been announced that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is going to put the six remaining Hilton hotels that it owns on the market for a reported total asking price of £200 million. The hotels that will be included in this sale are: the 181-room Hilton Warwick, the 334-room Hilton Brighton Metropole, the 170-room Hilton St Anne’s Manor in Bracknell, the 319-room Hilton Glasgow, the 96-room Hilton Glasgow Grosvenor and the 821-room Hilton Manchester Airport. RBS recently sold the Cumberland Hotel in London, which is managed by Guoman Hotels, and is believed to be close to finalising the sale of the JW Marriott Grosvenor House hotel in Park Lane.

Wanted: Buyer For London Hotel

The latest hotel in London, UK, to be put on the market is the 42-room Four Seasons Hotel on Gloucester Place, near Regent’s Park. The Grade II-listed boutique hotel has recently been refurbished and the property’s owners are looking for offers of around £9 million.

Hilton To Plant A Tree In The Garden Of Tuscany

Hilton Worldwide has already sown the seed for its new venture in Tuscany, central Italy; the US-based chain has signed a franchise license agreement with Italian construction company Edilgest Srl, which, after regular watering and plenty of Tuscan sunlight, will result in the Doubletree by Hilton Resort Siena – Chianti. The hotel is expected to open in spring 2011 with 97 rooms, and a further 23 rooms will be added in 2012. Hilton currently operates three Doubletree hotels in Italy. Commenting on the new signing, Patrick Fitzgibbon, senior vice president development – Europe and Africa, said that the new resort will be “a fantastic addition to Hilton Worldwide’s Italian estate of hotels”.

A New Star Rises In Budapest

Barcelona-based Hotusa Hoteles’ Eurostars brand made its debut in Hungary this week. The Eurostars Budapest Center officially opened in the Old Town of Pest with 175 rooms, bringing Hotusa’s portfolio in the Hungarian capital up to 20 hotels.

The Race Is On For The Opening Of The Ellenborough Park Hotel & Spa

The Mantis Group, a member of Preferred Boutique of the Preferred Hotel Group, is making preparations to open the newly renovated Ellenborough Park Hotel & Spa just outside of Cheltenham in the UK. Scheduled to open in January 2011, adjacent to the famous Cheltenham Racecourse, the hotel will have 62 bedrooms and suites all designed by world-renowned interior designer, Nina Campbell. Ellenborough House, and the racecourse, was once the estate of the Earl of Ellenborough, a former Viceroy of India. In 1947, the house was sold and it became a private school, but the property was eventually sold again in 1972 and transformed into a hotel.

Go To Sleep For A Good Cause

Cycling the length and breadth of Britain? Yes. Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro? Yes. Sleeping…hmmm not normally a feat associated with raising money for charity; however, StreetSmart is a charity which, since it started in 1998, has raised more than £4.2 million for the homeless by asking diners to add an optional £1 to their bill in participating restaurants. Now hoteliers are being given a chance to help: this week the charity announced that it is to launch a similar venture called SleepSmart, in which participating hotels will ask guests to make a £1 donation on top of their bill. Deutsche Bank is sponsoring the scheme; the bank covers all the administration costs for both StreetSmart and SleepSmart, which means all of the proceeds from the campaign will go directly to the cause and will be used to provide sleeping bags, clothing, medical assistance and support, amongst other things, to those in need. The new scheme is due to start in London this year.

Swiss-Belhotel Rings Again In Dubai

Hong Kong-based hotel management company Swiss-Belhotel International has signed a management agreement with the UAE-based Mohammed Tayyeb Khoory group of companies for its second property in Dubai, UAE. The 212-room Swiss-Inn Al Khoory Dubai is expected to open at the beginning of 2011 in Al Bada, western Dubai, joining its sister hotel in the emirate the 184-room Gold Swiss-Belhotel Dubai.

A New Park Inn For Nigeria

“All good things come in threes”, goes the old quote. It just wouldn’t have worked if Goldilocks had only met two bears, and surely Huey and Dewey couldn’t have managed without Louie. Rezidor Hotel Group thought the same thing about its Park Inn brand; the company had already signed two agreements for Park Inn properties in Nigeria, West Africa, and this week it turned the duo into a trio with the announcement of the 135-room Park Inn Lagos, Ikeja, which is expected to open in 2013 in the port of Lagos, on the Bight of Benin. The 173-room Park Inn Abeokuta is scheduled to open as the first of its brand in the country in the town of Abeokuta by the end of this year, followed by the 125-room Park Inn Abuja, which is to open its doors in Nigeria’s capital in early 2012.

NH Hoteles’ Half-Year Results

NH Hoteles has recorded a growth in EBITDA of 87%, to €68 million, for the first half of 2010. The group’s income grew by 7.2%, to €646.5 million, compared to the same period in 2009. Income from hotel activity increased by 8.3% for the first half of the year, and the rise in occupancy of 12.4%, in comparable hotels, resulted in a 7.2% increase in RevPAR.

The 10th Annual European Hotel Finance & Investment Summit

Has the hotel industry turned a corner? Is 2010 the year in which owners and operators can start to look again to the future after a turbulent couple of years? How are lenders and investors viewing the growing market confidence? If these are questions you would like to know the answer to then book your place at the 10th Annual European Hotel Finance & Investment Summit. This year’s event is to take place at the Hyatt Regency Churchill Hotel in London, UK, from 7-8 September. Among the abundant crop of industry experts speaking at the conference is HVS London’s managing director Russell Kett. For more information or to register for the event visit euromoneyseminars.com

Gladen’s Tidings

The news from Spain by Esther Gladen, Business and Market Intelligence Analyst, HVS Madrid. This week Fuerte Hoteles opened its new resort in Estepona, Málaga: The 212-room four-star Fuerte Estepona Suites Spa, which is located right on the beachfront. Sol Meliá has decided to extend its Innside brand, which it purchased in 2007, by opening its first Innside property outside of Germany. The leased Innside by Meliá will be housed in the LC Torre Europa, a 19-storey building under construction in the Plaza de Europa of L´Hospitalet de Llobregat, in Barcelona. The hotel is scheduled to open in 2011 with 33 one-bedroom studios, 54 two-bedroom apartments, ten three-bedroom units and three four-bedroom grand de luxe apartments. Sol Meliá also opened a new hotel in Portugal this week: the Spa Meliá Braga. The hotel is operating under a franchise agreement with 182 rooms, including 20 executive suites and one presidential suite.

Absolute Share Price Performance Over the Past Week – 22-29 July 2010

NH Hoteles – Share prices rose this week as the company reported its revenue for the first half of 2010.

Sol Meliá – The company traded at a 60-day high of €6.62 this week.

Millennium & Copthorne – Morgan Stanley raised its recommendation from "underweight" to "equalweight" and gave the company a share price target of 480p.

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