| Featured in this EMEA Hospitality Newsletter - Week Ending 18 February 2005 |
| The Courtyards Of Paris | Return to Headlines |
| How many Courtyard by Marriott hotels are there in the French capital Paris? Award yourself points if your answer was 'two – the 242-room Courtyard by Marriott Paris Neuilly and the 300-room Courtyard by Marriott Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport' but give yourself full marks only if you knew that a third is on the way in 2006. The new property is the 150-room Colombes Courtyard by Marriott. | |
| Ideal Plans For Poland | Return to Headlines |
| A report in the Polish press suggests that Investon, which is part of the real estate firm Tonagro Group, wants to expand, through franchising, its Ideal Hotels chain. The report notes that Investon's aim is to have between four and six hotels open in Poland by 2010 in the economy class chain that is currently represented by the Hotel Ideal Pruszków, near the capital Warsaw, and the Hotel Ideal Świebodzin. | |
| Russian Hotels | Return to Headlines |
| If a hotel company's name was a reflection of its intent, then Russian Hotels would take top prize for explicitness. The Moscow Times reports that this recently formed company wants to spend between US$200 million and US$250 million over the next three to five years on the establishment of 20 to 30 four-star hotels in regional areas of Russia. Cities such as Kiev, Baku and Tbilisi are apparently of interest too, but then a company name such as Russian and Capitals Of The CIS Hotels lacks the snappy simplicity. Some of the money for the project, which will entail the construction of new hotels or the renovation of existing buildings, will be provided by the metals conglomerate Basic Element. Perhaps as much as US$12 million will be invested in what the newspaper notes could be among Russian Hotels' earliest undertakings: the construction of a hotel of some 150 to 200 rooms that would open in 2007 in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk. | |
| Divan Is Not One For Sitting About | Return to Headlines |
| With five properties in its native Turkey and a sixth – the 144-room, four-star Divan City Istanbul – on its way this spring, Divan Hotels has reportedly given thought to expansion beyond the shores of its homeland. The company is said to be interested in London, Paris or Moscow and apparently expressed this desire while, ironically, signing a contract with construction firm Moment Yapi for what would be Divan's seventh hotel in Turkey. The 83-room, four-star Divan City Ankara, which will cost a reported US$7 million, is expected to open in the Turkish capital in 2006. | |
| Hilton To Manage The Tower Links Golf Clubhouse | Return to Headlines |
| Hilton International is to manage the Tower Links Golf Clubhouse, which is not far from the Hilton Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates. The new building is home to a spa and fitness centre where golfers will no doubt go to relax after playing the 18 holes on the adjoining course. Hilton is not green when it comes to golf; after all, it has to its name the likes of the Katamyia Golf Resort in Egypt and the Hilton Cancun Beach and Golf Resort in Mexico. Elsewhere in the UAE, when Accor delivers its acceptance speech at the unveiling of the 450-room Sofitel at the Jumeirah Beach Development in Dubai it will read out the name of wa international when it comes to thanking the interior designer. | |
| Gorge On Zola And These Other UK Buyers | Return to Headlines |
| The Zola Hotel Group is reported to have acquired the privately owned 40-room Tophams Belgravia hotel in central London. Up in the northwest of England, Quintessential Hotels has added a fourth hotel to its portfolio with the £23.5 million purchase of the Hanover International Hotel in Warrington. The 142-room property will revert to its former name The Park Royal and it is expecting to enjoy renovation work costing £3 million. Down on the south coast of England, Ken Robins, the owner of Excelsior Coaches, has sold the 77-room Bournemouth Sands Hotel to tour operator Samatt for close to a reported £2 million. Away to the southwest, in Torquay, the 41-room Hotel Gleneagles, once owned by Donald Sinclair, who was said to have been the inspiration for the character Basil Fawlty in the TV comedy series Fawlty Towers, has been sold to the Patel family for close to its asking price of £1.5 million. | |
| Irish Estates: One Red Light, One Green | Return to Headlines |
| The Irish Times reports that Manor Park Homebuilders (MPH) has applied for permission to redevelop the 230-acre Abbeville estate in Dublin and create a 70-room hotel together with a golf course and houses. MPH acquired the estate from the family of former Taoiseach Charles Haughey in 2003 for a reported €45 million. While Dublin holds its breath, workers at the Carriglas Manor Estate in Co. Longford can unsheathe their shovels and prepare for action after a €100 million 200-room hotel and golf course development on the eighteenth-century estate was given the go-ahead. | |
| Cotter To Retire From Starwood | Return to Headlines |
| His appointment as Chief Operating Officer of Starwood Hotels & Resorts was announced in February 2000, and in November 2003 Robert F. Cotter added the title of President. Come the end of this year and Mr Cotter will relinquish both titles as, in a move that has surprised some observers, he has decided to retire on 31 December 2005. Some way from retirement is 35-year-old Alexander D. Kompier, who joined Golden Tulip Hospitality (GTH) in 2002 as its Director of Finance and Administration; he is now appointed to the newly created position of GTH's Chief Financial Officer. | |
Absolute Share Price Performance Over the Past Week 10/02/05-17/02/05
Accor - CSFB raised its rating from 'Underperform' to 'Neutral'.
Hilton Group - UBS keeps its 'Buy 2' rating ahead of next week's finals.
Millennium & Copthorne - UBS maintains its 'Reduce 2' rating, cautioning that trading performance on continental Europe, due to be announced in M&C's finals next week, could disappoint.
