Bulgari To Make Spanish Eyes Sparkle - The first hotel in the Bulgari Hotels & Resorts chain, a 58-room property in Milan, is yet to open but this has not prevented Italian jeweller Bulgari and its joint venture partner Marriott International deciding on the setting for the second property: the Spanish capital Madrid. Since coming together in February 2001 the partners have gradually evolved plans to have seven hotels in the chain by 2008. And this hotel may not be the only gem Marriott wants to cut in the city; reports suggest that the company is talking to an unnamed local developer with a view to establishing a Ritz-Carlton hotel and an as yet undetermined number of properties under the Courtyard by Marriott brand, a flag that Marriott would reportedly like to see flying too in Barcelona and other large cities in Spain. The scope of this expansion plan will not be known until Marriott has found a suitable partner.

Sol Meliá Takes A Tryp, Plus What's On Portuguese Minds - Sol Meliá now has a sixth hotel in the Spanish city of Valencia after the opening of the 197-room, four-star Tryp Oceánic. The region to which the city lends its name is also seeing a hotel, reportedly destined to be a Holiday Inn, rise at the Bonaire mixed-use complex in the town of Aldaia. Across the border, in Portugal, Accor and its long-standing Portuguese ally Amorim have teamed up again to open the 104-room Hotel Mercure Porto-Gaia in Vila Nova de Gaia in the north of the country. The two partners aim to have 64 hotels in Portugal by 2006. Also clubbing together are Portugal's eight casinos, which plan to spend a reported €200 million on developing not only new casinos but also hotels and golf courses. One hotel is sufficient for the moment for native real estate company Godimperio, which is to make its contribution next year to the work already in progress on the Quinta de Martinela project in Castelo de Bode.

IHG: A Spain Odyssey - Spanish real estate company Polaris World has launched InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) on a journey to the Murcia region of southeastern Spain, where IHG's mission is to embellish each of Polaris World's three golf resorts with a hotel. Doubly blessed are the outskirts of the town of Torre Pacheco, which will welcome the 64-room InterContinental Mar Menor Golf Resort in 2005 and the 200-room Crowne Plaza La Torre Golf Resort in 2007. The El Valle Golf Resort, near the town of Baños y Mendigo, must wait until 2008 before a 110-room hotel, brand not specified in reports, opens there.

Le Meridien Chills With The Crew - Le Meridien is claiming a first for itself: the first hotel company to give aircrew their own dedicated hotel within an existing luxury hotel. Weary pilots should plot a course for Le Meridien Heathrow, where they will find that the company has spent £23 million creating 300 boutique-style bedrooms and facilities tailormade for them. Le Meridien has the ports covered too, down in west Africa, where Port Harcourt has welcomed the company's second hotel to Nigeria: the 85-room Le Meridien Ogeyi Place Hotel.

Six Pillars In Germany, A Colossus In Rhodes, And Quality In Sweden - Ramada International has journeyed to the capital to open its fifty-second hotel in Germany, the Ramada Plaza Hotel & Suites Berlin. The 184-room property will be operated under franchise by Treff Hotels. In Greece, local hotelier Maravelias is currently holding talks with parties near and far that might be willing to buy the 1,700-bed Colossus hotel on the Aegean island of Rhodes. Choice Hotels Scandinavia already knows who the potential purchaser of the Quality Hotel 11 in Gothenburg might be: the Swedish hotel and leisure company Capona, in which Choice Hotels Sweden, a subsidiary of Choice Hotels Scandinavia, took a 39.9% stake in June. Choice Hotels Scandinavia acquired the 184-room property in question that very same month for a reported €30.3 million from Norwegian real estate group Aspelin-Ramm.

Whitbread's Wholesome Figures - The latest 24 weeks in the financial life of Whitbread were ones characterised by encouraging growth in like-for-like sales. A depressed London market provoked certain sympathy in Travel Inn, which was respectfully restricted to growth of 3.4%. Whitbread's Marriott-branded hotels shed a few tears though as they spoilt the joyful picture by lagging 1.2% behind; however, some consolation could be drawn from this being an improvement on the negative growth of 2.4% posted over the 14 weeks to 7 June. The rejuvenated Beefeater restaurants returned growth 5.2% ahead, while the David Lloyd Leisure fitness chain showed its mettle with 6.7% growth, albeit over 22 weeks. Chief Executive David Thomas said the results filled the board with confidence in the company's prospects and its potential for continuing growth.

Société du Louvre Draws The Blinds - French hotel and luxury goods company Société du Louvre warned back in July that its interim results would make disappointing reading, and the forecast proved to be true. The company completed the full set by adding the figures for profit to those for turnover announced two months ago. Afflicted by what it termed exceptionally unfavourable market conditions, Société du Louvre saw net profit plunge 52.6% to €7.4 million, a descent hastened by an exceptional charge of €4.7 million at its Baccarat fine crystal business. The one bright spot, provided by the economy hotels, where operating profit rose 25% to €22.1 million, was rapidly tarnished by the performance of the luxury Concorde hotels; operating profit here slid 68.6% to €5.4 million.

Mövenpick's Moves In Dubai - Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts will not now have to wait for the opening in 2005 of the Mövenpick Hotel Dubai Pearl to have a presence in the emirate of Dubai, after it agreed to take over the running of what is now the 232-room, de luxe four-star Mövenpick Hotel Bur Dubai. Across in Bahrain, meanwhile, interested parties have until the end of September to put in a bid to the local National Hotels Company for a contract to build a US$17.2 million tower at the Diplomat Radisson SAS Hotel that will hold 121 suites. Elsewhere, six Lebanese banks, led by First National Bank, have joined forces to lend US$20 million to Kingdom Hotel Investment Group (KHIG) to assist in KHIG's investment in the US$100 million 300-room Four Seasons Damascus, which is due to open in the Syrian capital in late 2004.

Three UK Sales Struck - Three UK hotels are adjusting to life under new sets of private owners after the previous private owners in each case struck million-pound deals. Towns and cities seeing the action were Harrogate in North Yorkshire, where the 21-room, lifestyle Balmoral Hotel went for an undisclosed sum off an asking price of £1.3 million; Exeter in Devon, where the 37-room, three-star Gipsy Hill Hotel changed hands for more than £1.5 million; and the town of Stonehaven on the east coast of Scotland, where £1 million was enough to persuade the owners to part with the 18-room Royal Hotel.

Euromoney Makes The Conference Rounds - Euromoney is presenting its third annual European Hotel Investment Summit on 24 and 25 September at Le Meridien Piccadilly, London, together with a separate Budget Hotels Briefing Day on 26 September. It has lined up an impressive list of speakers and panellists (Russell Kett, for example, the Managing Director of the London office of HVS International, who is moderating a session on 'The integrated model - can bricks and brains work together?'). Anyone with a focus on hotel real estate investment, financing and operations will find plenty to interest them. And for those particularly interested in budget hotels, there is now a separate, third day specifically for you. For full details please visit .

Why Should I Attend The International Hotel Conference? - "Because it's a highly productive working experience that you will actually enjoy!", according to organiser Morris Lasky, who has over 50 years' experience of the international hotel sector and who has produced the hugely successful Hotel Investment Conference in Phoenix, USA for the last ten years. Morris cites five good reasons to join the team from HVS International for the International Hotel Conference in Monte Carlo: there will be (1) 100 top speakers from throughout the international hotel industry; (2) 45 highly educational sessions with innovative, high-quality content; (3) numerous networking opportunities where deals get done; (4) a fantastic venue in which to conduct business; and (5) all based on a successful track record in producing hotel conferences that work. For more information about the International Hotel Conference, which runs from 17 to 19 September at Le Meridien Beach Plaza, visit the website at or contact Morris Lasky directly at [email protected] for further information or to receive the conference brochure.

Absolute Share Price Performance Over the Past Week 28/08/03-04/09/03

Sol Meliá - The company was one beneficiary of Goldman Sachs' decision to upgrade the European leisure sector from 'neutral' to 'attractive'.
NH Hoteles - Investors were cheered by the company's decision to resume dividend payments.
Accor - Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating from 'Equal-Weight' to 'Overweight', feeling that Accor offered superior upside potential to its peers.

If any colleagues in your organization would also like to receive HVS Hospitality Enews, please send an e-mail with full contact details to: [email protected], noting 'subscribe' in the subject box. Please remember to include the e-mail address where you wish to receive HVS Hospitality Enews.

For the latest in the hospitality industry, please visit:

www.hvsinternational.com

You are also welcome to contact the following personnel at HVS International's London or Madrid (Laurent de Kousemaeker) offices.

Russell Kett, MD at [email protected]
Charles Human, MD Investment Services at [email protected]
Simon Hudspeth, Director at [email protected]
Dominique Bourdais, Director at [email protected]
Christopher Mumford, MD Executive Search at [email protected]
Laurent de Kousemaeker, Director at [email protected]

Stephen Rushmore
President
516-248-8828, ext. 278
HVS