HVS International, together with its alliance partner DTZ, has sold Holiday Inn Hotel Bonn, Germany, on behalf of Swedish property company Drott. The fourstar hotel was sold to Dr Ebertz and Partners for a price in excess of DM50 million. The hotel consists of 252 rooms, two restaurants and a bar, and extensive meeting and conference facilities. It is situated near the Kennedybruecke overlooking the Rhine, in the city centre. The hotel is leased to Scandic, operating under the Holiday Inn brand. Following Hilton International's acquisition of Scandic, the hotel is expected to be rebranded as a Hilton hotel. The deal represents one of the most significant asset sales to have taken place in Germany for a while. For further information please contact Charles Human, Director chuman@hvsinternational.com.

Pandox, the Sweden-based hotel operator, recorded a 24% rise in its operating net profit to euro 37.9 million for the first nine months of 2001. The company attributed the increase to a good hotel market, value-adding activities and to the euro 4.5 million acquisition of the 16-strong Hotellus portfolio in April 2000. Total property revenue for the same period was up 23% to euro 45.4 million. Pandox derives 85% of its sales from its Swedish market, where 39 of its 46 hotels are located. It has only one hotel, the 368-room Holiday Inn Nelson Dock, in London and, given its market segment, has therefore escaped the worst of the economic downturn. Nevertheless, analyst Bear Stearns expects RevPAR at the London hotel to fall by 15-20% in the fourth quarter and by 12% in Germany where Pandox operates three hotels. In contrast, RevPAR in Sweden will be flat but should show a small growth in Brussels where Pandox has two hotels. However, with its high-quality portfolio, focused strategy and with good demand expected in its market segment, Pandox is optimistic for the remainder of 2001 and considers that its forecast income after tax of euro 19 million can be attained.

The terrorist attacks in the USA have had an adverse effect on the third-quarter results announced by Starwood Hotels & Resorts. The company is particularly exposed to the New York market and consequently saw net income plunge 71% to US$30 million. Revenue of US$965 million was down 12% on last year's comparable period. RevPAR worldwide fell 16.5% and in North America by 19.4%. The company expects RevPAR in the fourth quarter to fall by 25-30% to give EBITDA of between US$200 million and US$250 million. Redundancy costs and other charges are expected to total between US$75 million and US$150 million in the fourth quarter. Contrary to the opinion of analysts, Starwood's Chief Executive Barry Sternlicht is encouraged by improving operating conditions, and Starwood has surprised many analysts by announcing that it is doubling its capital expenditure for 2002 to between US$200 million and US$250 million. Starwood also confirmed that it is to develop a new mid-priced Sheraton hotel under a concept called Sheraton Light. The only information currently available is that each new property would have approximately 200 rooms.

Whitbread is said to be considering a reported £100 million bid for Esporta, which operates 38 health clubs in the UK, three in Sweden and one in Spain. Although Whitbread refused to comment on the reports, it would have been alerted by Esporta's recent, unexpected profit warning. Due to a decline in new membership, which is set to translate into a shortfall of 3-4% over the year, the company revealed that profits would be significantly below expectations. The news has infuriated shareholders and has led to the departure of Chief Executive Graham Coles. Whitbread is reportedly not in a position to bid just yet but would view the Esporta clubs as a complement to its David Lloyd Leisure chain as the company seeks to focus on its hotel and health club business. This focus has been further sharpened by Whitbread's announcement that it has sold 44 pub-restaurants to private pub and restaurant operator Noble House for £31 million. The portfolio of eight Dragon Inn Thai pub-restaurants and 36 of the least profitable of its Beefeater and Brewers Fayre outlets was first put up for sale in May as Whitbread looked to remove underperforming outlets.

Corus and Regal Hotels, which operates 93 UK hotels, some 6,448 rooms, predominantly in the three-star market, is proposing to sell seven of them. The portfolio, totalling some 276 rooms, is valued at £14.65 million, and comprises five Regal hotels and two Corus hotels. The most expensive hotel on the list is the £3.25 million 76-room Carlton Park Hotel in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. The list includes the £1.75 million 40-room Feathers Hotel in Ludlow, Shropshire, which occupies a seventeenth-century Grade I listed building with, reportedly, the oldest timber façade in the UK. Corus and Regal Hotels is part of the Regal Hotel Group which was acquired in July 2001 for £88.5 million by London Vista, a subsidiary of Malayan United Industries.

Orbis, Poland's largest hotel operator, has revealed poor preliminary results for the first nine months of 2001 that have been blamed on the economic climate in Poland, the rise in foreign competitors and a decline in tourism. Unconsolidated net profit was approximately euro 12 million, a fall of 59% on last year's comparable period, with total sales of euro 141.1 million also down, by more than 10%. Average occupancy for the first nine months was 52.5%, down 3.7 percentage points on the same period last year. Meanwhile, Global Hotels Development Group Poland has opened its third hotel in Poland, the 154-room Holiday Inn in Cracow. The group is also set to manage another Holiday Inn in the same city, which is due to be built in the first quarter of 2002. The main investor in the project is Efekt-Hotele, a subsidiary of Efekt, the Polish wholesaler which is building the 182-room property. Global Hotels also plans to start new projects in Katowice and Warsaw, and aims at having 20 hotels in Poland by 2007. It has a franchise affilation with Six Continents' Holiday Inn brand.

P&O Princess Cruises, the world's third-largest cruise operator, has announced its results for its third quarter ending 30 September. Pre-tax profit before direct costs and other charges rose 5% to US$186.2 million, with turnover essentially unchanged at US$776 million. Expressing his pleasure with the results, the company's Chief Executive Officer Peter Ratcliffe stated that the impact on the fourth quarter of the terrorist attacks in the USA would be limited as cruises have 95% occupancy and cancellations have not been as high as expected. However, Mr Ratcliffe added that the earnings outlook for 2002 was more uncertain and depended heavily on world events from January to March 2002, the company's most important booking period. But by adjusting its cruise itineraries to avoid sensitive areas and an acceleration of its cost-efficiency programme, expected to reduce costs by 7% in 2002, the company is well placed to withstand short-term problems.

Raffles Holdings, owner of Singapore's landmark Raffles Hotel, has warned of a loss in the fourth quarter as a result of the economic slowdown and current uncertainty in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the USA. In the first nine months of the year the group posted an approximately sevenfold increase in net profit to US$178.5 million, boosted by asset sales such as the US$187 million sale of a 55% stake in the Raffles City hotel and shopping complex. Despite the warning on the fourth quarter, Raffles expects such asset sales to produce full year results that top those of last year. A 10% increase in turnover to US$145.4 million was aided mainly by Swissôtel, which Raffles acquired from SAirGroup in April. To counteract the economic situation, Raffles is to rein-in costs and refocus its sales and marketing efforts on less affected market segments.

Rosyth-based hotel operator Residence International has placed itself in the hands of receivers KPMG, suffering from the slump in tourism following the terrorist attacks in the USA and the foot-and-mouth crisis. However, Residence's Managing Director Brian Martin thought it unfair to pin his company's difficulties on any single event. Residence owns the prestigious 27-room, fivestar One Devonshire Gardens hotel in Glasgow, the adjoining 14-room Devonshire Hotel, the 28-room Edinburgh Residence and properties in Paris, Tuscany and Miami. An offer for the Devonshire Hotel has been made by its former owner Jeanette Montgomery and, according to KPMG's Blair Nimmo, three worldwide time-share operators have expressed interest in the entire Residence portfolio. Residence International had developed luxury time-share options at its Scottish properties and at the Paris Residence, developments which some disgruntled unnamed sources claim ruined One Devonshire Gardens' reputation at least. The situation does not affect the operation of One Devonshire Gardens or of its in-house Amaryllis restaurant. The restaurant was opened by top chef Gordon Ramsay in April 2001 and is independently operated by Gordon Ramsay Holdings.

The share price surprisingly failed to react to the company's good nine-month figures. Analyst Bear Stearns has reiterated its 'Buy' rating on the shares.

The share price has been hit by the continuing concern over declining hotel occupancy after 11 September. Millennium & Copthorne's Millennium Hilton in New York was badly damaged in the attacks and remains closed.