Featured in this EMEA Hospitality Newsletter - Week Ending 26 August 2005
Le Meridien Brand Set To Fall To Starwood This Autumn
Millennium & Copthorne Debuts In Egypt
Chiswick Could Be The New Soho
Hilton Group's Interim Results
Jambon Avec Domaine des Séquoias
InterContinentals: One New And One Refreshed
Constructors Crave Croatian Coast
An Express By Holiday Inn For Redditch
Cityscape Draws Near


Le Meridien Brand Set To Fall To Starwood This Autumn
A joint venture of Lehman Brothers and Starwood Capital Group Global is to be formed with the purpose of capturing Le Meridien’s owned and leased hotel portfolio, with the deal expected to close by the end of the third quarter of this year. Successful capture will be the signal for Starwood Hotels & Resorts to conclude the purchase of the Le Meridien brand and the franchise and management business. Agreements to this end were signed this week by Starwood Hotels and Le Meridien.

Millennium & Copthorne Debuts In Egypt Return to Headlines
Millennium & Copthorne has taken the plunge, and entered Egypt for the first time. Flying the Millennium flag is the Coral Beach Diving Hotel, which stands on the promenade at the marina in Port Ghalib, on the shores of the Red Sea. The four-star property currently has 120 rooms available, with the remaining 86 due to open in October.

Chiswick Could Be The New Soho Return to Headlines
The owners of Soho House, the private members’ club in central London, are reported to have paid an undisclosed sum for Foubert’s: four buildings in Chiswick, west London, that are home to a hotel, a restaurant, a nightclub and an ice-cream parlour. It is thought that the foursome will be reworked into a new hotel, a spa, a brasserie and a private members’ club, all four of which could be open next autumn. Elsewhere in the capital, The Stein Group has replaced GLA Hotels as the manager of The Cadogan, the 65-room, five-star hotel in Knightsbridge.

Hilton Group's Interim Results Return to Headlines
Hilton Group turned in one of its best financial performances of recent years in 2004. So as the management paced the corridor outside the accountants’ door, waiting for the latest figures, they knew there was a lot to live up to. And when the results envelope was opened management began to sing; for in the first six months of 2005 pre-tax profit was 0.4% higher, at £192.1 million, and group revenue had risen by 17.1%, to £6.6 billion. Hotels in the UK provinces saw RevPAR slip by 0.8% on the previous year’s comparable, but this was the only blot on the RevPAR page; worldwide RevPAR was up 8.4%, at £47.14. Hilton can celebrate the results in its second hotel in the Spanish city of Barcelona: the newly opened 433-room, five-star Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona.

Jambon Avec Domaine des Séquoias Return to Headlines
Businessman Eric Jambon is the new owner of Domaine des Séquoias: five hectares of parkland in the town of Bourgoin-Jallieu that offers visitors to that part of southeastern France the chance to stay at the five-room, four-star hotel or eat in the 60-seat restaurant there. Reports suggest that M Jambon will spend €650,000 on the installation of 14 rooms and two suites in a farmhouse on the estate and at some time within the next six years turn his attention to the construction of a themed hotel. Meanwhile, French chain Everhôtel is busy in western and southwestern parts of its native land with plans to have two hotels with the Everhôtel brand open before the end of the year: one in Saint-Jean-d’Angély and the other in Oloron-Sainte-Marie.

InterContinentals: One New And One Refreshed Return to Headlines
Dancing partners who may have outgrown their usual venue are encouraged to visit the InterContinental Düsseldorf, which has the largest ballroom in the German city of Düsseldorf. The 286-room luxury hotel opens its doors to all, irrespective of dancing ability, on 1 September. Those who on principle never dance anywhere else but in the bedrooms of InterContinental hotels will find the experience particularly rewarding at the InterContinental Jeddah. All 350 guest rooms at the hotel in the Saudi city of Jeddah have been fully refurbished.

Constructors Crave Croatian Coast Return to Headlines
Those planning a stroll along the coastline of Croatia are advised to keep an eye out for bulldozers: eager developers may be crossing your path soon. Construction firm Ingra will be arriving from Zagreb to build a five-star resort in Posedarje. The resort, which will cost a reported US$151.9 million, is scheduled to be finished in 2009. South of there, near Dubrovnik, Ingra’s peer and compatriot Hidrocommerce will be investing a reported US$97.8 million in the restoration of the Dubrovački vrtovi sunca complex. If you thought you could escape the builders by taking your stroll down by the River Savinja in neighbouring Slovenia, then think again. Native spa resort operator Zdravilišče Laško apparently has plans to build a 120-room hotel as part of a spa complex costing a reported US$54.8 million.

An Express By Holiday Inn For Redditch Return to Headlines
Meridian Leisure Hotels and developer Kings Oak South Midlands are poised to begin the redevelopment of a former railway goods yard in the Worcestershire town of Redditch. A 100-room Express by Holiday Inn hotel will join 83 houses on the site. Up in Cheshire, meanwhile, Briden Construction is hoping for a favourable response from the council to its application to build a 56-room hotel in the town of Warrington.

Cityscape Draws Near Return to Headlines



Clear your diary for the three days between 17 and 19 September, for you would not want to miss Cityscape 2005. This is the fourth International Property Investment & Development Event, and last year it attracted more than 10,000 people. Focusing on all aspects of property development, the event – to be held at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre – will be addressed by a host of distinguished speakers, including Elie Younes, an Associate Director at HVS International’s London office. For more details visit www.cityscape-online.com click here.

Absolute Share Price Performance Over the Past Week 17/08/05-25/08/05




Whitbread - The share price perked up on news that the Costa Coffee chain might expand rapidly in India after the opening of the first outlet next month.

Hilton Group - The group's interim figures met the expectations of UBS, which retained its 'Buy 2' rating but raised its target price from 340p to 355p.

Jurys Doyle Hotel Group - The company's board withdrew its support for Precinct Investments' proposed offer, after Precinct lost the bank funding behind its bid.