| Marriott International Sells Four Hotels In Europe |
| What do the Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel, the Renaissance Paris Hotel La Defense, the Renaissance Paris Vendome Hotel and the Courtyard by Marriott Düsseldorf have in common besides a European location? Well, all four hotels, which have a total of 1,049 rooms, have been sold by Marriott International to subsidiaries of Whitehall Street Global Real Estate Limited Partnership 2005. The new owners, who paid an undisclosed sum for their goods, have money enough left over to permit investment in the hotels over the next two years. Marriott International will continue to manage the properties. A third French property – the 150-room Courtyard by Marriott Colombes – will also be joining the Whitehall ranks; a sale will be transacted when the hotel opens its doors this summer. |
| Emirates Pearl Set To Sparkle In Abu Dhabi | Return to Headlines |
| The Emirates Pearl is a new resort destined for the coast of the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Work on the US$136 million project is set to start this summer and last for two years. The most striking result of the effort put into the development by the Tourism Development and Investment Company and telecommunications firm the Atlas Group will be a 240-metre tower containing a 352-room, five-star hotel and 104 serviced apartments. | |
| Dream Is Over For Mövenpick At Disneyland Resort Paris… | Return to Headlines |
| Children who aspire to run their own hotel management company when they grow up will have learnt this week that even in the wonderful world of Disney life as a hotel manager can sometimes be hard. Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts will see its contract to manage the Mövenpick Dream Castle Hotel at Disneyland Resort Paris end on 1 June 2006 owing to the dissolution of the contract between UBX Development (France), the owner of the 400-room hotel, and the leaseholder Park Hotel. It was with Park Hotel, a joint venture formed by Thomas Cook and Dertour, that Mövenpick signed its own contract in April 2003. Managerial duties will pass to Vienna International Hotels & Resorts. | |
| …But Triple Consolation For Mövenpick In Saudi Arabia | Return to Headlines |
| One manager (Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts), two owners and three new hotels provide the line-up in Saudi Arabia this week. The new Mövenpick properties are to be found in Riyadh (300 rooms), Bureidah (159 rooms) and Yanbu (144 rooms). Mohamed Abdul Aziz Al Rajhi Establishment for Trade and Agriculture owns the first two; Al Jazeerah Hotels & Resorts owns the property in Yanbu. The hotel in Bureidah will be the first to open – by the end of this year – with the other two opening in 2008. By that time, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts will have nine hotels in Saudi Arabia. | |
| Easy Does It Again In London | Return to Headlines |
| On the evidence of the past fortnight it might be said that in London easyHotel is not unlike the city’s buses: you wait an age for another and then two come along at once. And might easyHotel and its bright orange livery replace the Routemaster and its red paintwork as a new symbol of the capital? Judge for yourself by catching any bus that serves the West Cromwell Road. As you pass Nos. 44-48 you will see that the 40-room Town House Hotel is already being converted into what will be the third easyHotel in London when it opens later this year. Queensway Hospitality, which holds the franchise ticket on what will be the 70-room easyHotel Earls Court, is the second franchisee in London. Splendid Hotel Group became the first last week with the easyHotel Victoria. | |
| Golden Tulip Hospitality To Manage Golden Tulip Accra | Return to Headlines |
| The Golden Tulip Accra has been operated by GLAHCO Hotels & Tourism Development Company under the Golden Tulip franchise since 1992. GLAHCO, which is also the owner of the 234-room hotel in Ghana, will be welcoming in Golden Tulip Hospitality as the hotel’s manager from this July. | |
| Maritim Hotel Opens In Dresden | Return to Headlines |
| Cast your mind back almost two years, to June 2004, and you may recall Maritim Hotels’ announcement that it would be converting the Erlweinspeicher warehouse in the German city of Dresden into a hotel. In the event it took Hochtief Construction a mere 18 months to effect the change, and the resultant Maritim Hotel Dresden opened its 328 rooms on 15 May. | |
| InterContinental Hotels Group Reports On Its First-Quarter | Return to Headlines |
| Andrew Cosslett, the chief executive of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), is ‘positive’ in his outlook for the year ahead after seeing the company post ‘strong’ results for its first-quarter ending 31 March 2006. Continuing operating profit was 40% higher, at £42 million, and continuing revenue was 22% up on the previous year’s comparable, at £186 million. Marketwide RevPAR grew by 11.6%, with hotels in the EMEA region contributing growth of 8.7%. A hotel in this region that can contribute to future figures is the Express by Holiday Inn Barcelona 22@, in Spain. Work to build this €17 million 186-room property is under way, and the hotel, which will be owned by MedGroup, should be ready by October 2007. | |
| De Vere Group's Interim Results | Return to Headlines |
| In the words of David Richardson, the chairman of De Vere Group, “2006 has started satisfactorily”. De Vere Group reached the midway point in its financial year on 26 March 2006 with revenue before disposals 5.7% up on the previous year, at £146.5 million. Operating profit before disposals and exceptionals was essentially flat, at £19.5 million. The portfolio of De Vere Hotels posted like-for-like revenue of £68.2 million, an increase of 3.7%, and like-for-like RevPAR growth of 4.9%. The corresponding figures in the Village hotel portfolio were £40.3 million (an increase of 3.4%) and growth of 2.4%. | |
Absolute Share Price Performance Over the Past Week 11/05/06-18/05/06
InterContinental Hotels Group - Though the likes of Jefferies International had a 'Buy' rating on the stock after IHG's first-quarter results, any analyst sentiment was lost in the collapse suffered by many stock market indices amid concerns of higher US interest rates.
Accor - Before the market went into turmoil Citigroup had placed a 'Buy' rating on the stock with a target price of €57.
Sol Meliá - Deutsche Bank raised its target price from €9.2 to €10.9.
