Onyx Hospitality Group has taken over the management of the Wesley hotel located next to Admiralty in the vibrant Wanchai district of Hong Kong. Appointed by Methodist Centre Limited, Onyx will close the property to undertake an extensive refurbishment programme before relaunching it as OZO Wesley Hong Kong in the last quarter of 2012.
The Ascott Limited's (Ascott) premier Ascott Jakarta has been named 'Leading Serviced Apartment and Suite' at the Indonesia Travel and Tourism Awards 2011/2012. The awards recognise outstanding brands and individuals in Indonesia's travel and tourism industry for their top quality services.
Meritus Hotels & Resorts emerged as the Most Popular Heritage Brand at the Singapore Prestige Brand Awards (SPBA) 2011. The distinction comes following a public voting to determine the most popular choice amongst this year's Heritage Brand Award recipients. Both the Heritage Brand and the Most Popular Heritage Brand awards were presented to Meritus CEO Michael Sengol by Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who was the Guest-of-Honour at the prestigious award ceremony held at Raffles City Convention Centre on 8 December.
"This brings to six the number of hotels opened or signed in India, a country which continues to play a key role in our global strategy," said Thomas F. Hewitt, Interstate's chairman and chief executive officer. "We have established a successful platform for growth that allows us to take advantage of the many opportunities we continue to see in India's hotel industry for both individual hotel owners and institutional investors alike."
Outrigger Hotels & Resorts today announced it had entered into an agreement to purchase the management rights and associated real estate assets of the hotel property currently operating as the Holiday Inn Surfers Paradise.The sale includes the management rights from Colryan Pty Ltd (managers and receivers appointed) for up to 414 hotel rooms and the real estate assets from Seasilver Hotels Pty Ltd comprising reception, extensive conferencing areas, and restaurant and bar.The contract is subject to the satisfaction of standard commercial conditions. However, it is expected to settle in late 2011 or early 2012 and the property will then be re-branded to Outrigger Surfers Paradise.Outrigger Hotels & Resorts is a 64-year-old privately-held U.S. company and one of the fastest growing hospitality groups in the Asia-Pacific and Oceania regions. The hotelier has a long association with the Gold Coast after selecting the destination as its base to expand the brand from the U.S. into Australia in 1998.The company's decision to invest in Surfers Paradise's tourism sector is also a major show of confidence it has for the Gold Coast and builds upon the presence of its Australian head office in Surfers Paradise.Regional General Manager-Australia, Grant James, said he was extremely confident in the future of the Gold Coast's tourism industry."The Gold Coast has fared much better than other regions in Queensland which can be evidenced by our other Gold Coast resort at Coolangatta eclipsing revenue and occupancy forecasts for the 2011/2012 period," Mr James said.His belief in a rebounding domestic tourism market was echoed by the release last month of Tourism Australia's National Visitor Survey stating that domestic tourism was on the rise with June recording a jump in domestic travellers by 8 per cent."Despite current global economic woes, there is a lot of positive news coming out of the Gold Coast which includes the opening of two new five-star hotels, construction of the Gold Coast light rail and planned runway extension at Gold Coast International Airport to allow direct flights from China."We are pleased to be back in the heart of Surfers Paradise and we're looking forward to working with local industry and operators and making a positive contribution to the local economy," Mr James added.
Accor is proud to announce it has been appointed to manage the newly named Hotel Lighter Quay, one of Auckland's most glamorous waterfront hotels. Formerly called Hotel Viaduct Harbour, the exclusive property sits at the heart of Auckland's CBD between the Viaduct and the newly-opened Wynyard Quarter.
The move forms the first step of a joint venture between Langham Hospitality Group and Shui On Land that will see the 88 Xintiandi concept roll out across China in key locations.
"This brings to five the number of hotel management contracts executed since we launched our third-party management platform in India," said Thomas F. Hewitt, Interstate's chairman and chief executive officer. "Our business model, focused on local contacts and in-country experience, has translated well to India and enabled us to establish a strong operating platform there. JHM Interstate India opened and currently operates three hotels in the country, and we have developed a robust pipeline of third-party management opportunities to continue our vigorous growth in 2011 and beyond."
Amari, the centrepiece of the ONYX Hospitality Group's portfolio of hotel brands was recently recognised as the Most Popular International Hotel Brand of Southeast Asia in one of China's leading hospitality industry awards.
Professor Kaye Chon, Dean and Chair Professor of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), has been honoured by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) with the UNWTO Ulysses Prize, a top honour which is also widely considered as the "Nobel Prize in Tourism".
The Swiss hotel company assumes management of the Residences Laguna Beach Phuket which is perfectly complementing its resort and spa on Karon Beach. With immediate effect, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts is undertaking management of the Palm Beach Club hotel and rebranding it Mövenpick Residences Laguna Beach Phuket.
Interstate Hotels & Resorts today announced that JHM Interstate Hotels India, a 50/50 joint venture management company between Interstate and JHM Hotels, has opened and is managing two new-build hotels in India: the 217-room Four Points by Sheraton hotel in Pune and the 123-room Four Points by Sheraton hotel in Visakhapatnam (Vizag).
The Address Hotels + Resorts, a five star premium hotel brand with a strong presence in Dubai and other global markets, has marked its Asian expansion by signing a management contract to operate The Address, The Terrace - Bali, a luxury retreat in Pecatu Indah Resort in Bali's Badung Regency, near Nusa Dua and Kuta in
Marco Polo Hotels has been awarded the "Best International Hotel Management Group of China", in recognition of the company's commitment to provide excellence in hospitality products and services. The ceremony was held at the Asia Hotel Forum 2011 in Shenzhen, China. The award was presented by Mr. Giovanni Angellini on behalf of the China Hotel Starlight Awards; in their 6th year of recognizing excellence in the hotel industry. Simon Pearson, Vice President of Marketing & Business Development accepted the award for Marco Polo Hotels.
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) today announced that the InterContinental brand will be making its entry into Malaysia. From 1 February 2011, InterContinental Kuala Lumpur will replace the current Nikko Hotel.
Best Western International - The World’s Largest Hotel Chain® - has for the fourth year in a row captured the Best Mid-Range Hotel Brand in the much-coveted TTG Travel Awards. It’s also held on to another outstanding achievement award for 2010 – Best Marketing & Development Effort - for the second year running.
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) today announced that a Crowne Plaza hotel will replace the Pan Pacific Bangkok, marking the entry of the brand to the capital of Thailand. The rebranding will come into effect 1 January 2011, making Crowne Plaza Bangkok Lumpini Park the fifth IHG property in Bangkok.
Hilton Hotels & Resorts, the flagship brand of Hilton Worldwide, has again been chosen as the “Number 1 Hotel Brand” in Japan, based on the annual Asia Pacific Hotel Business Guest Survey conducted by UK-based consultancy group BDRC. The BDRC brand ranking index takes into account a hotel brand’s scores for prompted and unprompted awareness, usage of a brand in the last 12 months, preferred hotel choice, loyalty ratio and intention to recommend the hotel to others.
Capella Singapore, the ultra-luxury resort on Sentosa Island, has been named one of the world’s top 40 business hotels in the September issue of London-based Wallpaper* magazine. Wallpaper* teamed up with Fortune magazine to celebrate the best new business hotels around the globe and the shortlist of 40 properties will be whittled down to just ten in the December 2010 issue of the magazine (on sale on 11 November).
or Haiyan Song, Chair Professor of Tourism and Associate Director of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), has recently been honoured by the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education (I-CHRIE) with the John Wiley & Sons Lifetime Research Achievement Award.