A lively debate ensued at the first Inaugural Central Asia and Turkey Investment Conference (CATHIC) as Horwath HTL, the world's largest Hotel Consultants, hosted a panel on the hottest markets in Central Asia. The session, moderated by Michael O'Hare, industry veteran and Managing Director of Horwath HTL in Russia, contained representatives from Accor, Starwood, Wyndham and Capital Partners.
Burba Hotel Network (BHN) has announced that the first planning meeting for the upcoming Hotel Investment Conference Europe (Hot.E) was held in London on February 2, 2011. Hosted by BHN, the inaugural Hot.E is scheduled for September 6-8, 2011 at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel in London.
The battle for control of Maybourne Hotel Group, which owns the Berkeley, Claridge's and The Connaught hotels in London, has taken a dramatic turn this weekend with a surprise bid from the Chinese government for the 37 per cent stake in the group. Although owner Paddy McKillen, one of Ireland's most successful property developers, has said he did not want to sell, he is understood to be evaluating the offer.
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Mint, the recently rebranded city centre hotel chain, is close to being put up for sale by Lloyds Banking Group and the Orr family with a price tag of around £550m. An information memorandum for prospective buyers is expected to be issued over the next few weeks after the joint-owners appointed investment bank JP Morgan Cazenove to handle the sale. Mint, which was founded as City Inn in 1995 and was only rebranded in November, is one of a number of hotel companies inherited by Lloyds after its painful acquisition of HBOS.
Accor has signed an agreement with Fimalac and Groupe Lucien Barrière for the sale of its 49% stake in Groupe Lucien Barrière for €268 million. In addition, Accor will receive the 2010 dividend on its Groupe Lucien Barrière shares, representing a total of €7.35 million.
BAHA – the UK's leading educational organisation for professionals involved in financial management, revenue management and IT within the hospitality industry – is delighted to announce the publication of 'A Guide to the Use and Interpretation of the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry – Tenth Revised Edition'.
In line with its asset-right strategy, Accor announced today a large real-estate transaction in Sweden involving the sale of 18 hotels, totaling 1,760 rooms and representing all the Group's local hotel assets.
The hotel industry is doing better than most expected in Europe. But does that mean pessimism was overdramatic in 2009 or has performance surprised everyone? It looks as though it could be a bit of both, according to the facts and figures presented during Deloitte’s European Hotel Investment Conference earlier this month at The Dorchester. The pre-conference delegate survey conducted by TNS Research International showed some pessimistic sentiments a year ago.
The adverse situation of the industry in 2009 underwent a major turnaround during the first 9 months of 2010. The third quarter of the year, in particular, has recorded a significant improvement towards recovery in the Group's basic activity. NH Hoteles´ revenues totalled €980.5M, a 9.4% rise, and EBITDA, an indicator of trends in operations at NH Hoteles, reflected both the strong recovery in the market and the remarkable increase in productivity.
Eurazeo SA, France’s largest publicly traded private equity firm, said it’s in exclusive talks to sell B&B Hotels, the budget chain it bought five years ago, to Carlyle Group.
“The transaction is proceeding on the basis of an estimated enterprise value at the closing period of 485 million euros ($633 million),” Paris-based Eurazeo said in a statement.
U.K. pub group Mitchells & Butlers PLC (MAB.LN) Thursday took the first major step in its new management's business strategy, selling its 52 hotels for GBP91 million, with budget hotel operator Travelodge taking on the leases in a 25-year deal. The U.K. pub group said it was selling the Inkeeper's Lodges, which comprise 2,000 rooms, to Prupim, a property investment arm of Prudential PLC (PUK). Prupim in turn has agreed to lease the hotels for 25 years to Travelodge, the budget hotel chain owned by Dubai Holding's investment arm. The deal is the first under M&B's new strategy of selling non-core assets to focus on expanding its key brands.
Hoteliers in London could see double-digit revenue per available room (revPAR) growth this year, according to the latest Hotel Market Outlook, a quarterly report issued by Deloitte.
Thirty-three-year-old Maltese national, Roderick Micallef, acting general manager and director of finance at the CHI Hotels & Resorts (CHI) operated five-star Corinthia Hotel Lisbon in Portugal, was proclaimed winner of the prestigious International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF) Young Leader Award 2010. The award, co-sponsored by IHIF and the International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC), was presented to Roderick Micallef by Jonathan Worsley, chairman Bench Events, co-organizers of the forum, and ISCH chairman Angelos Loizou, during a special plenary session of the 13th edition of the IHIF held in Berlin, Germany, on March 8-10, 2010.
Lloyds Banking Group will say today that it is to breathe new life into the owner of De Vere hotels, the group behind The Grand in Brighton and Cameron House on Loch Lomond, which has been under pressure to renegotiate bank loans.
Accor's decision to demerge its services division should undoubtedly create value, but how much?That will depend on whether one of the world's biggest international hotels group, stripped of its prepaid-vouchers unit, is successful in reinventing itself as a less-capital-intensive, higher-return business. That could prove tough. It involves clearing €1.2 billion ($1.62 billion) in net debt and cutting capital spending through the sale of 450 hotels and other assets over the next three years in far-from-easy market conditions.
A cashflow crisis that threatened the financial security of the Rocco Forte Collection, the luxury hotel group owned by Sir Rocco Forte, has been averted after HBOS, part of Lloyds Banking Group, agreed to extend a £300 million loan pending a long-term solution, The Times has learnt. It is understood that the hotelier had to hold urgent talks with the bank last year after the downturn in trade put its joint venture with HBOS, encompassing seven of its thirteen hotels, including Brown’s, its London flagship, in breach of financial covenants.
Meeting under the chairmanship of Gilles Pelisson, Accor's Board of Directors approved unanimously (less one vote) the potential benefits of separating the Group's two businesses. Reviews carried out by senior management at the Board's request clearly showed that the demerger would enable the Hotels and Prepaid Services businesses - each a world leader in its industry - to step up their pace of growth.
French hotels and services company Accor SA's board of directors Tuesday voted to split the company into two separate, listed companies -- one focusing on hotels, the other on vouchers -- ending years of speculation and pressure from some shareholders. A wide majority of the 12-member board of the world's second-largest hotels group in terms of market capitalization after U.S.-based Marriott International Inc., which met for most of the day Tuesday, voted in favor of the plans, with one vote opposed.
Spanish hotel chain Sol Melia (SOL.MC) forecast an improvement in fourth-quarter hotel bookings in Spanish cities, but said prices would still suffer as business and leisure travellers remain strapped for cash. "Throughout the fourth quarter, a better performance of occupancy rates is expected for Spanish cities according to current bookings, although no recovery in prices is foreseen in the coming months," Sol Melia said with nine-month results.
NH Hoteles and Hesperia have closed the agreement for the integration of their respective hotel management businesses. Through this deal, NH Hoteles will manage 51 hotels that are currently owned or operated by Hesperia and the multinational hotel chain will increase its total number of operating hotels to 400 and its number of rooms to over 60,000.