Featured in this Asia Pacific Hospitality Newsletter - Week Ending 11 March 2005
Raffles International Marketing Strategy Earns Plaudits
BreakFree, Peppers and Now Sheraton Mirage for MFS group
Accor and Interglobe Create Joint Venture for Hotel Development and Management in India
GIC Real Estate Partners Lehman and Realstar Group for US$1.8Billion Hotel Deal
Singapore to Host 2006 IMF and World Bank Meeting
HVS International Hosts Conferences in India and China
Absolute Share Price Performance, as at March 11 2005


Raffles International Marketing Strategy Earns Plaudits Return to Headlines

Raffles International's marketing campaign for their Swissotel brand has been cited by three different marketing textbooks as examples of effective marketing. The textbooks are read by undergraduates in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and authors include marketing guru Philip Kotler. The "Man in Bathtub" advertisement - "Check into Swissotel, stress and tension check-out" - is featured in two textbooks as an example of how a brand successfully communicated its promise to the market. The marketing campaign, which ran only in the print media, was aimed at positioning the Swissotel brand differently from its existing Raffles trademark. In Europe, Raffles secured its second management contract in Eastern Europe when it sealed a deal to manage its first hotel in Estonia under its Swissotel brand. The 28-storey Swissotel Tallinn Estonia will have 239 rooms and it is scheduled to open in 2007. It is situated in a prime city location and will be part of a multi-complex comprising apartments and shopping centres. Raffles International now has 39 hotels and resorts in 20 countries in 34 destinations.


BreakFree, Peppers and Now Sheraton Mirage for MFS group Return to Headlines

Gold Coast-based finance, tourism and property management group MFS plans to buy Queensland's two Sheraton Mirage Resorts for $210 million in conjunction with The Ray Group. The resorts - in Port Douglas and the Gold Coast - are currently owned by Japanese groups Nippon Shinpan and Mitsui. Each features marina, retail facilities, golf courses and five-star hotels.The sale is expected to be completed by mid-year, with the new properties becoming the third recent addition to MFS' accommodation portfolio which now includes Peppers Resorts and BreakFree Limited. "Not only will the hotels and shopping centres within the Sheraton portfolio provide a secure income stream, there are a wide range of high-quality property development opportunities that will be able to be pursued," MFS group executive chairman Phil Adams said. "This is a major strategic acquisition for the MFS group, providing an increased income stream without weighing down our balance sheet." The hotels will continue to be managed by Starwood but Mr.Adams said MFS would mobilise its full resources to improve guest numbers and earnings. "We now have the properties, the database and the booking technology to provide a variety of holiday options for our customers," he said. "Our accommodation options now range from an affordable holiday at the beach at one of the many BreakFree resorts, to a week in the snow at Mount Hotham or Falls Creek, to a luxury getaway at Peppers, to a five star international resort at Port Douglas or the Gold Coast."


Accor and Interglobe Create Joint Venture for Hotel Development and Management in India Return to Headlines

InterGlobe Enterprises, India's leading travel and technology management company and Accor, one of the world's largest hotel and tourism enterprise have entered into a joint venture agreement that represents a highly significant partnership for the Indian hospitality sector. InterGlobe Hotels, a 60:40 joint venture between InterGlobe Enterprises and Accor Asia Pacific, will invest in and develop a minimum of 25 'Ibis' brand economy hotels across India and South Asia over the next 10-12 years. The venture envisages an investment of US$200 million over this period. The establishment of an India-wide internationally-branded economy hotel network will fill a major void in the Indian hospitality sector and cater for the extra demand that has resulted from the growth in domestic and international travel. Development activity for Ibis hotels is already underway in Bangalore and Gurgaon. Sites have also been identified in Pune and Jaipur. Together these hotels will have over 700 rooms. Target cities for future development included Mumbai, the Delhi region, Chennai and Hyderabad. Accor is pursuing management opportunities in the sub-continent and actively negotiating the management of two purpose-built 300-room Novotel branded hotels at Gurgaon and Hyderabad respectively. Accor is also in discussion to manage Novotel hotels at Chennai, Mumbai and Pune.


GIC Real Estate Partners Lehman and Realstar Group for US$1.8Billion Hotel Deal Return to Headlines

GIC Real Estate (GIC RE), the real estate investment arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp, has teamed up with Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners and the Realstar Group to buy 73 hotels in Britain from the InterContinental Hotel Group for about US$1.8billion. The 73 hotels comprise four Crowne Plaza hotels, 68 Holiday Inn hotels and one Express by Holiday Inn Hotel. The hotels, which have a total 12,841 rooms, include the 900-room Holiday Inn Forum in Kensington, London. Intercontinental Hotel Group will continue to manage a hotel under the long-term management contract while Lehman Bothers and Realstar will asset-manage the portfolio of the hotels on behalf of the new partnership.


Singapore to Host 2006 IMF and World Bank Meeting Return to Headlines

Singapore will spend US$60-80 million to host the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank annual meeting in September 2006, when more than 16,000 visitors - among them heads of state, top businesspeople and luminaries - will converge to the city in the biggest conference it has ever hosted. The world's largest and most comprehensive gathering of global financial representatives is held outside the two organizations' Washington headquarters every three years. The last meeting in Asia was in Hong Kong in 1997, followed by Dubai in 2003. Singapore will also have its maiden Visual Arts Bienniale as part of Singapore 2006, a showcase for the city and its people. The IMF-World Bank meeting and the Bienniale are expected to add US$40 million to Singapore's economy, fill 15,000 hotel rooms and employ 8,000 staff and volunteers. The meetings will also boost the financial sector, which employs just 5% of Singapore's workforce but contributes 12% of GDP.


HVS International Hosts Conferences in India and China Return to Headlines
Hospitality Conferences: HVS International is proud to host two major hotel investment conferences in India and China.
 
Hotel Investment Conference - South Asia
First up, HVS International will host the first Hotel Investment Conference - South Asia (HICSA) from 6 to 7 April 2005 at the Hilton Towers hotel in Mumbai, India. HICSA aims to provide an opportunity for hotel owners, investors, operators, bankers and industry specialists to come together to share their best practices, new ideas, latest market trends. For more information, please contact: Lokesh Sabharwal at (+91 11) 24101005 or via email: [email protected]. For more information, please visit HICSA website www.hvs.com/HICSA/.

China Hotel Investment Summit
Without a doubt, China is rising in stature as the world's economic superpower with unprecedented growth in all sectors within its economy. It is therefore HVS International's pleasure to present the first ever China Hotel Investment Summit (CHIS) which will be held on 28 and 29 April 2005 in the Westin Shanghai. CHIS was conceptualised to provide an opportunity for hotel owners, developers, investors, operators, government agencies and industry specialists to come together to share their best practices, new ideas and the latest market trends. For hotel developers and investors in China, CHIS will be a 'One-Stop' marketplace to tap into new development concepts, a venue to meet major regional and international hotel operators, prospective equity partners, financing partners and industry experts and learn of new investment opportunities. For more information, please contact: David Ling at +65 6293-4415 (Ext. 11) or via email: [email protected] or Nevius Glussi at +65 6293-4415 (Ext. 12) or via email: [email protected]. For more information, please visit CHIS website www.hvs.com/CHIS/.

Absolute Share Price Performance, as at March 11 2005
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