Featured in this EMEA Hospitality Newsletter - Week Ending 16 March 2007
Travelodge Warms Up For The 2012 Olympics
Diamond Has Its Heart Set On Sunterra
Watch For Marriott In Bay Central
Africa Israel Hotels Moves Into Bucharest
Travco Says Bring Me Sunshine
The Drinkers' Guide To Rezidor
Athlete Hopes To Set Foot In Hotel Trade
Shelbourne Hotel Reopens In Dublin
A Second Hotel In The Tallink Chain
Draw Sharma's Triangle. Hence Show That Angle NKW Is Quality
And The Winner Of Best New Hotel Development Of 2006 Is…


Travelodge Warms Up For The 2012 Olympics
If there were an Olympic event known as putting the most hotel rooms into London, then Travelodge, the budget hotel chain, would be a firm favourite to take gold. The company will give it its best shot; Travelodge is to invest £140 million in the construction of 20 new hotels (3,500 rooms) in London that will be open in time for the city's staging of the Olympics in 2012. By the end of this marathon piece of development work Travelodge should have 7,000 rooms in the capital: easily enough to send it with a hop, skip and a jump to the highest plinth on the medal rostrum.

Diamond Has Its Heart Set On Sunterra Return to Headlines
One vacation ownership company is on the trail of another. Diamond Resorts, which is, like its intended target, based in Las Vegas, is to make through an affiliate a cash offer of US$16 a share for Sunterra Corporation. The offer price values Sunterra, which has a portfolio of 96 resorts in North America, the Caribbean and Europe, at around US$700 million, including debt of US$375 million. Credit Suisse is leading a group of banks that is providing debt financing for the proposed deal, which is expected to complete in the second quarter of this year.

Watch For Marriott In Bay Central Return to Headlines
Dubai Select Property has chosen Marriott International to manage the five-star hotel that is to occupy one of the three towers that form Dubai Select’s Bay Central development at Dubai Marina in the emirate of Dubai. The 300-room Renaissance Dubai Marina Hotel is set to open at the US$272 million development, which includes two residential towers and retail space, in 2010.

Africa Israel Hotels Moves Into Bucharest Return to Headlines
Africa Israel Hotels (AIH) has paid a reported €18 million for a stake of 60% in a Romanian company – not identified in reports – that has either direct or indirect ownership of four hotels (a total of 294 rooms) in the Romanian capital Bucharest. The deal, which is subject to due diligence, is further indication of AIH’s desire to extend its reach. The company, which has nine hotels in Israel under the Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and Express by Holiday Inn brands, last month paid a reported €3.75 million for a business hotel (again not identified in reports) near the German city of Stuttgart.

Travco Says Bring Me Sunshine Return to Headlines
Sunshine Tours, part of Abu Dhabi National Hotels (ADNH), has formed a joint venture called ADNH Travco with the Egyptian travel group Travco. ADNH Travco will develop tourism projects and invest in hotel schemes, initially in the emirate of Abu Dhabi and in the town of Al ‘Ayn elsewhere in the United Arab Emirates.

The Drinkers' Guide To Rezidor Return to Headlines
After enjoying a drop of claret last week Rezidor Hotel Group has moved onto the port and might be in line for a nip of Scotch. Ruddy-cheeked with the excitement of the imminent arrival in Bordeaux of the Radisson SAS Grand Hotel, Rezidor has passed from left to right across France, from southwest to southeast, to decant a 189-room hotel of the Radisson SAS vintage into the Vieux Port district of Marseilles. The next round of opening for Rezidor might well take place on the northeast coast of Scotland. Hazledene Estates last year purchased the former site of the Satrosphere science museum in Aberdeen and has plans to build a 164-room hotel there. The property, part of a development costing a reported £60 million, could be open in early 2009.

Athlete Hopes To Set Foot In Hotel Trade Return to Headlines
Fundação Lurdes Mutola is reported to have paid the Mozambican government US$600,000 for the former Soviet embassy building in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. The charity, which was established by world champion athlete Maria de Lurdes Mutola, has plans to spend a reported US$1.8 million on transforming the derelict building into a luxury hotel. Reports suggest that Fundação Lurdes Mutola will launch a public tender to bring either a local or an overseas hotel operator into the project.

Shelbourne Hotel Reopens In Dublin Return to Headlines
Raise a pint of Guinness on St Patrick’s Day this Saturday to the Shelbourne Hotel, which has reopened in Dublin after renovation work lasting almost two years and costing a reported €83 million. The Shelbourne Dublin, A Renaissance Hotel, to give the 265-room property its official title, became part of Marriott International’s collection in 2004 when the company signed a lease agreement with Royal Bank of Scotland on what was a hotel of 146 rooms, before the restoration work extended it. The property, which is now owned by Kantaka Enterprises, a consortium of Irish investors, is the largest five-star hotel in Dublin.

A Second Hotel In The Tallink Chain Return to Headlines
OÜ TLG Hotell, the hotel-operating subsidiary of the shipping firm AS Tallink Grupp, has a second hotel to run. Like the 332-room Tallink City Hotel, which opened in 2004, the new arrival stands in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. The Tallink Spa & Conference Hotel, in which AS Infortar has invested around €29 million, has 275 rooms.

Draw Sharma's Triangle. Hence Show That Angle NKW Is Quality Return to Headlines
On a map showing the central region of England draw a triangle with its vertices on Wolverhampton, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Kenilworth. Then placate the librarian by impressing her with your knowledge of your construction of what might be termed Sharma’s Triangle. Explain that the three points you have connected are the locations of hotel operator Shiv Sharma’s three branded hotels: a Ramada property in each of Wolverhampton and Newcastle and – the latest addition – the three-star Quality Hotel Warwick, which stands in the town of Kenilworth, in Warwickshire. Sharma paid Mayren, a hotel management firm based in Leamington Spa, an undisclosed sum for the freehold interest in the 48-room hotel, which had an asking price of £3 million.

And The Winner Of Best New Hotel Development Of 2006 Is… Return to Headlines
The Mandarin Oriental, Prague, which opened in the Czech Republic last September, saw off the challenge of two English hotels – the Hilton Manchester Deansgate and The Hoxton Hotel, in London – to scoop the award for best new development of 2006, as voted for by the sponsors of the recent International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF). The stars were out on 7 March at the InterContinental Berlin for the Deal of the Year Awards. Russell Kett, managing director of HVS International’s London office and chair of the New Development judging panel, presented the award to Phil Golding of Cedar Capital Partners, the co-owner of the hotel.

Absolute Share Price Performance Over the Past Week 08/03/07-15/03/07




Whitbread - Amid general market volatility, Whitbread's share price was buoyed by continued hopes that the David Lloyd Leisure chain might be sold.

Accor - Morgan Stanley placed an 'Overweight' rating and raised its target price from €71 to €75.

Sol Meliá - The Cuban government announced that the number of tourists visiting the island was in decline in the first two months of 2007. Sol Meliá has 24 hotels on the island.