| If It's Twos Day, This Must Be Belgium |
| Acting as exclusive agent, HVS Hodges Ward Elliott has completed the sale to Prem Group of two hotels in Belgium for a total of approximately €16 million. The Irish company’s capture of the 139-room, four-star Golden Tulip Hotel Antwerp and the 66-room, three-star Tulip Inn Antwerp-Astoria Hotel marks the start of Prem Group’s expansion beyond the shores of the Republic of Ireland and the UK. The hotel group is set to return to the city of Antwerp next month to take on a 200-room, four-star hotel before completing a quartet of hotels in Belgium next March by acquiring a 150-room hotel elsewhere in the country. Prem Group also has eyes for Germany and the Netherlands. |
| A Second Park Inn Slots Into St Petersburg | Return to Headlines |
| On 1 January 2007 Rezidor Hotel Group will step through the doors of the Pribaltiyskaya Hotel in St Petersburg, plant a flag and claim the 1,200-room property as its second Park Inn in the Russian city. The rebranded Park Inn Pribaltiyskaya, which is in line for extensive renovation work, is Rezidor’s third hotel in St Petersburg. The property was recently purchased by the Norwegian firm Wenaas Group and HVS Hodges Ward Elliott acted as agent on the transaction. Wenaas Group owns Rezidor's other hotels in the city: the recently opened Park Inn Pulkovskaya and the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel. | |
| Crowne Plaza Ankara To Take Wing In Turkey | Return to Headlines |
| With Thanksgiving upon us (or should that be US?) and Christmas fast approaching it is not unnatural for a Western hotelier’s thoughts to turn towards Turkey. InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is one such hotelier; it finds the Istanbul part especially tasty (it has already digested four slices and has another two on its plate). It has nibbled too on Izmir and Bursa. A varied diet is important, of course, and IHG has recognised this by getting its teeth into Ankara. And the recipe for Crowne Plaza Ankara is a simple one: take a 30-year franchise agreement and mingle with the firms Yeni Gimat İşyerleri İşletmesi and Laledan. The result should be a 264-room hotel that is ready to serve at the end of 2007. | |
| Ramcore Hotels To Expand Ramada Encore In The UK | Return to Headlines |
| The UK has six Ramada Encore hotels and these could be joined by another 40 within the next seven years. Leading the drive to create properties of between 80 and 150 rooms is Ramcore Hotels, a company formed by BDL Hotel Group, Capital & Provident, the property investment firm, and Wyndham Worldwide. Ramcore Hotels might favour certain locations with Ramada Encore hotels of around 200 rooms. | |
| Kempinski Hotels Brings Five-Star Residences To Prague | Return to Headlines |
| Fresh from unveiling the Djibouti Palace Kempinski as the first five-star hotel in the republic of Djibouti, Kempinski Hotels has returned to Europe to announce that it is giving Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, its first set of five-star full service executive residences. The company will manage the 75-unit Kempinski Residences Prague, which is owned by developer Ballymore Properties, from its opening day in early 2008. | |
| QHotels Swallows Another Hotel | Return to Headlines |
| QHotels gorged itself on Marston Hotels only last week, so one would think that the company would be taking temporary leave of the acquisitions table. Far from it; QHotels has returned to add a twenty-second hotel to its UK portfolio. In the role of “wafer-thin mint” is the Telford Golf and Country Club Hotel, a 96-room property in the town of Telford, in Shropshire, for which QHotels has paid an undisclosed sum. The hotel, formerly part of the Swallow Hotels chain, will benefit from fresh investment under its new owner. | |
| Libra: Large-Scale Plans In Egypt | Return to Headlines |
| An atlas shows that Marsa Alam lies on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, but what it does not show is the presence in the resort of Libra Holidays Group, of Cyprus, and representatives of the Egyptian tourism ministry. You will need to switch to satellite technology to track the progress of the two parties as they develop 5 million m² of land in the region into a mixed-use resort. The project, which will cost a reported US$800 million, includes a number of hotels. A target completion date of 2014 has been set. | |
| Iberostar and Bobita Plan A Hotel In Croatia | Return to Headlines |
| The Spanish chain Iberostar Hotels & Resorts and the Croatian tourist company Bobita are reported to have agreed to invest a total of €50 million in the construction of a four-star hotel on the southern coast of Croatia. The property, which would have some 300 rooms, is expected to open near the town of Makarska in April 2009. | |
| Sunland Group To Develop 15 Palazzo Versace Resorts | Return to Headlines |
| If you are a Sunland groupie then you will have been for six years a follower of the Palazzo Versace brand. Remember how you walked barefoot along the sandy shore of the Gold Coast of eastern Australia to see the first of these luxury hotels open in September 2000; recall your delight when you heard earlier in 2006 that Sunland Group was touring with the brand in Dubai and harmonising with Emirates Investment Group in the construction of the second Palazzo Versace hotel. Now get ready to scream with joy; your favourite group has signed up for a world tour (promoted by the Italian company Gianni Versace) that will showcase the brand in 15 venues (exact locations to be announced). | |
| The Cityscape Conference Approaches | Return to Headlines |
| The Cityscape conference has come up trumps in spades: Nakheel Hotels and Resorts is inviting Donald Trump, Jr, Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump to the three-day event, which begins on 4 December. The Trump trio will mingle with a host of other distinguished guests at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre that includes Russell Kett, the managing director of HVS International’s London office, and Bernard Forster, a director in the same office. Russell will be speaking at a session entitled ‘Emerging Concepts: New Brands, New Names, New Ideas’; Ivanka Trump, the vice president of developments and acquisitions at The Trump Organization, is set to be part of the panel at this session. Further details of the conference may be obtained from the website www.cityscape-online.com. click here | |
Absolute Share Price Performance Over the Past Week 16/11/06-23/11/06
Whitbread - The share price put on weight late in the week as speculation that Starwood Capital was preparing a bid continued.
Millennium & Copthorne - Kepler Teather & Greenwood Merrion placed a 'Buy' rating on the stock and gave a higher target price of 600p.
NH Hoteles - The share price fell on rumours (denied by NH Hoteles) that the company would be carrying out a rights issue.
