| Ritz-Carlton Puts More Greens Into Ireland |
| Golfing facilities will be one feature of a luxury spa resort that will bring The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company to Ireland for the first time. Dublin-based property company Treasury Holdings is at work in the grounds of the Powerscourt Estate in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, developing The Ritz-Carlton Powerscourt, County Wicklow. The 203-room resort is due to open next year. Meanwhile, from just up the road in Dublin come reports that the new owners of the Holiday Inn, Dublin Airport want to spend perhaps as much as €15 million on doubling the number of bedrooms at the 248-room hotel and extending the hotel’s conference facilities. InterContinental Hotels Group announced last week that it had sold the property to Adelphi Way Developments & Investments for €33.5 million. Indications are that Choice Hotels Ireland is to operate the hotel under the Clarion brand. |
| How Danubius Got Its Spot In London | Return to Headlines |
| The story of how Danubius Hotels came to London began in February 2004 with Jarvis Hotels’ announcement that it had put the Ramada Plaza Regent’s Park up for sale. Our Hungarian heroes were woven into the tale in January this year when CP Holdings, which has a 53.4% stake in Danubius, announced that it had conditionally agreed to acquire the 377-room hotel, which had an asking price of a reported £65 million. Well, reader, CP and the hotel were subsequently married and the Danubius Hotel Regent’s Park came into being. Danubius Hotels is to pay CP Holdings £5.1 million for a 25% stake in CP Regent’s Park Two, which owns the 120-year long leasehold interest in the hotel. | |
| Selected High Points From The Middle East | Return to Headlines |
| IFA Hotels & Resorts can take the credit for introducing Kempinski Hotels to Lebanon. Kempinski will be managing IFA’s Alabadiyah Hills resort, which is due to open in Dhour Abadiyah in 2008. The development offers investors looking for a branded residence a choice of 12 private villas, 33 town houses and 220 luxury apartments. Meanwhile, the suburb of Mukattam, the highest point in the Egyptian capital Cairo, could be home to any number of hotels by the time Emaar Properties’ Cairo Heights development is finished in 2010. The project, which Emaar will develop in partnership with Al Nasr Housing & Development, is set to cost US$4 billion; it will create seven mixed-use communities that will together cover an area of 4 million m². | |
| Ortadoğu Otomotiv's Drive Wins It The Hilton Istanbul | Return to Headlines |
| Reports from Turkey suggest that Ortadoğu Otomotiv, a subsidiary of Turkish holding company Doğan, was the victor in a privatisation process that had the Hilton Istanbul as the prize. Ortadoğu’s bid of a reported US$255.5 million for the 498-room hotel was sufficient to condemn Zorlu Holding to the runner-up spot and was too hot for the six other contenders. The price per room is one of the highest ever recorded for a hotel in Istanbul. | |
| Le Meridien Will Reopen The Hotel Des Indes Next Month | Return to Headlines |
| The Hotel Des Indes first welcomed the great and the good of Europe in 1881. The ghosts of witnesses to that event will be at the shoulder of the crowd assembled in the Dutch city of The Hague on 12 September for the hotel’s official reopening under its modern identity as the Le Meridien Hotel Des Indes. Thrill as kings and presidents once did as you inspect the 92 guest rooms in a hotel restored to its former glory at a cost of €35 million. | |
| Butterfly Looking To Flower After Sale And Leaseback Deal | Return to Headlines |
| Butterfly Hotels has its feelers out searching for properties to acquire to increase its stock in the UK, which currently numbers four hotels in the East Anglia region of eastern England. Expansion costs, of course, and just when Butterfly may have been wondering how it could afford to spread its wings along came WG Mitchell, which netted the four hotels (a total of 239 rooms) in a £17 million sale and leaseback deal, at a net initial yield of 6.6%. The properties – in Bury St Edmunds, Colchester, King’s Lynn and Peterborough – made the news earlier this year when they were rebranded as Ramada hotels. | |
| Netwest Finance A Winner In Belgrade Bidding | Return to Headlines |
| Netwest Finance, an investment fund registered in the Central American state of Belize, saw off the challenge of three other bidders to secure a 51% stake in the Moskva Hotel, which stands in the Serbian capital Belgrade. A bid of a reported US$10.4 million was sufficient to secure the 132-room prize. The competition for another hotel in the city – the Metropol – promises to be just as hot. The Serbian Privatization Agency will open the bidding for the 217-room hotel at a reported US$23.5 million. | |
Absolute Share Price Performance Over the Past Week 11/08/05-18/08/05
Jurys Doyle Hotel Group - Quinlan Private noted that it had made no approach, though it did not rule out the possibility that it might make one. A consortium of Patrick Kelly, Choice Hotels Ireland and others also denied making an approach, but said it had a potential interest in participating in an offer.
De Vere Group - Deutsche Bank lowered its rating from 'Buy' to 'Hold', suggesting that rising inflation caused by higher oil prices might temper De Vere's growth.
Whitbread - The share price was given a nudge upwards earlier in the week as Panmure Gordon placed a 'Buy' rating on the stock and gave a target price of 1,050p.
