The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has awarded a site at Changi Airport for lease to L.C. Development Ltd for the construction and management of an airport hotel. HVS International and DTZ Debenham Tie Leung were advisors to CAAS in seeking qualified investors. The airport hotel, which will occupy a site of approximately 7,700 square metres next to the upcoming Terminal 3, is expected to be ready when the terminal opens in 2008. The airport hotel will be a nine-storey building with up to 350 guest rooms. It will be equipped with amenities and facilities such as a swimming pool, restaurants, meeting and conference rooms, a spa lounges as well as a health and fitness club. The airport hotel will be physically linked to the new terminal. Hotel guests will also be able to reach Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 via an elevated People Mover System that will link all the three passenger terminals. L.C. Development Ltd has teamed up with InterContinental Hotels Group to manage the airport hotel under its Crowne Plaza hotel brand.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has partnered with Guang Dong Teem Holdings Limited to open the new 450-room Sheraton Guangzhou Hotel in Tianhe district, Guangzhou's central business district, Guangdong province. Scheduled to open in late 2008, the hotel will feature more than 15,000 square feet of meeting space, five food and beverage outlets, a health club and an outdoor swimming pool. The hotel will be part of a mixed-use complex, comprising offices as well as an entertainment and retail centre. The Hotel will be accessible from the Guangzhou East Train station, which allows convenient commuting to Hong Kong.

Indian Hotels Company Ltd will be investing US$22 million in the next fiscal year to set up budget hotels across the country and bid for the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation's (IRCTC) tender for operating hotels. The budget hotels project is renamed to 'Ginger' although earlier on was known as 'indiOne'. By the end of 2006, Ginger hotels will opened in Bhubaneswar, Pune, Mysore, Thiruvananthapuram, Durgapur and Goa. Construction will also commence on hotels in Agartala, Tirupur, Pondicherry and Nasik within the next couple of months. In addition, Indian Hotels Company Ltd will launch serviced apartment projects in cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai.

Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, one of Asia's largest and finest collections of hotels, and The Shilla Hotels & Resorts, one of Korea's most prestigious hotel companies, have formed a partnership to develop cross-promotional opportunities for both companies to harness each other's strengths in their respective markets. Under the partnership, both Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces and The Shilla Hotels & Resorts will develop reciprocal and joint marketing activities that include joint participation in trade shows, sales events, culinary promotions and marketing placement. In addition, the companies will assist each other in exchanging sales leads and conducting road shows across India and Korea. This alliance will support and enhance both hotels' representation in different parts of the world.

Shangri-La Asia has acquired the historic "Palais" of Prince Roland Bonaparte with plans to convert it into the Shangri-La Hotel, Paris by late 2008. The Bonaparte family mansion is located on Avenue d'Iena, amidst a mix of residences, businesses, museums and embassies; it is a 15-minute walk to the Eiffel Tower, and within walking distance from the Champs Elysées and the Arc de Triomphe. The seven-storey building will feature 140 rooms and suites, two restaurants, meeting facilities, an indoor swimming pool, a health club, retail space and a business lounge. Shangri-La Hotel, Paris will be joined by the group's second European hotel in 2010 with the opening of Shangri-La Hotel at London Bridge Tower.