Wyndham’s Worldwide Drive | Wyndham Hotel Group has announced to the world that so far this year it has opened 30 hotels outside of North America. As part of this expansion the company has ventured into new markets, and added new countries to its portfolio, with the opening of its first properties in Austria and Ghana, the 120-room Ramada Salzburg City Centre and the 75-room Ramada Resort Accra Coco Beach, respectively.

Aberdeen Sees Double | As part of its expansion plans for the Doubletree brand in the UK, Hilton Hotels Corporation (HHC) has chosen Aberdeen to be the owner of the first Doubletree hotel in Scotland. HHC has signed a franchise management agreement with Patio Hotels and, after a renovation, the 168-room Patio Hotel Aberdeen will open later this year as the Doubletree by Hilton Aberdeen City Centre. The UK is not the only European country targeted for expansion this week: HHC has purchased a plot of land in Gdansk, Poland for US$12 million, with the aim of developing a five-star hotel in the city. The 150-room hotel is expected to open in 2010.

Barwa International Buys Two Hotels In Switzerland | In a bid to grow its global portfolio, Qatar-based Barwa International, a subsidiary of Barwa Real Estate, has purchased two hotels in Switzerland: the 84-room Hotel Schweizerhof Berne and the 99-room Hôtel Royal-Savoy Lausanne. Barwa is planning to renovate both hotels and recruit new operators.

A Crowne Plaza For Doha | InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) and Qatar-based Trans Orient Group have signed an exclusive agreement which will result in Doha, the capital city of Qatar, becoming the lucky owner of the first Crowne Plaza hotel to be developed in the country. The Crowne Plaza Doha Airport will have 265 guest rooms and 83 serviced apartments. The hotel will be located in a business park two kilometres from the airport.

A Rezidor Resort For Saïdia | Rezidor Hotel Group has got together with Malaga-based real estate developers Property Logic to develop a new resort on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast. The Radisson Resort & Spa Saïdia is to open in the third quarter of 2010 as part of the coastal development Le Jardin de Fleur in Saïdia. The resort will offer its guests a choice of 384 rooms and 97 villas. This will be Rezidor’s first property in Morocco, bringing the number of countries represented in the group’s portfolio to 53. Africa isn’t the only place visited by Rezidor this week: the company also set foot in west Germany to announce a new Park Inn for Stuttgart. The 181-room Park Inn Stuttgart is set to open in the first half of 2010.

Nikki Beach Travels To Ras el Khaimah | Nikki Beach Hotels & Resorts has signed a management agreement with Saraya Islands to manage a five-star resort on Al Boum Island , which is one of the four islands in the Arabian gulf that comprise the Saraya Islands development in the emirate of Ras el Khaimah. The 140-room Nikki Beach Resort and Spa is expected to open by the end of 2011. Along with an upcoming development in Aqaba in Jordan, this will be property number two that Nikki Beach will be managing for Saraya. Ras el Khaimah won’t be the only emirate of the UAE to boast a Nikki Beach resort as Dubai is another location in the company’s development pipeline.

Seventeen Ramada Hotels To Be Developed In Saudi Arabia | Dubai-based Shuaa Capital’s Saudi Arabian subsidiary Shuaa Capital Saudi Arabia (SCSA) plans to use a SAR2 billion (US$535 million) hospitality fund to develop and own seventeen hotels across the kingdom. SCSA has signed an agreement with Rotana Hotel Management Corporation to operate and manage the hotels, which will have a total of 5,000 rooms, under the Rotana brand.

Fairmont Gives Oman A Raffles Hotel | The Sultanate of Oman is to host a Raffles hotel. When developed, this hotel will be the second property under Fairmont Hotels and Resorts' luxury Raffles brand in the Middle East, alongside the 248-room Raffles Dubai. No more information is currently available on this development but David Walmsley, Vice President – Development (Europe, Africa and Middle East) of Fairmont Raffles Hotels International has said that ‘We are not ready to make an announcement, but I would expect that announcement would come in the next month or so’. However, not satisfied with one hotel in Oman Fairmont has signed a contract with The Wave, Muscat to operate and manage a hotel at The Wave, Muscat development in Oman’s capital. The 280-room Fairmont The Wave, Muscat is expected to open in approximately three to four years time.

Ramada To Debut In Abu Dhabi | The 120-room Mafraq Hotel in the emirate of Abu Dhabi is to undergo an extension, a renovation and a rebranding. Malta-based CHI Hotels and Resorts, a joint venture between Wyndham Hotel Group and International Hotel Investments, has signed a ten-year management agreement with Mainland Investment, a subsidiary of The National Investor, to operate the hotel under the Ramada brand. The 250-room Ramada Abu Dhabi will debut as the first Ramada in the emirate at the beginning of 2010.

Staybridge Suites Opens In Liverpool | This week the UK saw the opening of the first Staybridge Suites hotel outside of the Americas. The city that carries this honour is Liverpool, in northwest England, currently the European Capital of Culture. The 132-unit Staybridge Suites Liverpool was officially opened by InterContinental Hotels Group’s chief executive officer Andrew Cosslett. However, the Staybridge Suites Liverpool won’t be alone for long as at the end of this week the Staybridge Suites Cairo CityStars is to open its doors at the CityStars commercial development in Cairo. Other locations in the pipeline for a Staybridge Suites property are Newcastle, Glasgow, Birmingham, London and Cardiff in the UK and Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the Middle East.

Finland Soks It To St Petersburg | Finnish hotel group Sokotel, owned by SOK Holding, has opened its first hotel in the Russian city of St Petersburg with an investment of €32 million. But so the 348-room Sokos Hotel Olympic Garden doesn’t get lonely Sokotel is also planning to open the Sokos Hotel Vasilievsky in St Petersburg this autumn. Five more four-star Sokos hotels are planned for the city over the next six years.

Good Things Come In Small Packages | Expansion plans have been revealed for Yotel. The company aims to develop hotels in at least 20 airport and city centre locations over the next two years. HVS alumni and Yotel chief executive Gerard Greene, commenting on the expansion, said ‘We’re already targeting every major airport in the world’. Yotel has already opened Japanese-style capsule hotels in London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports. Paris and Amsterdam are among the cities that can look forward to having their own Yotel in the near future.

Russian Railway Hotels Planned | Russian hotel company Zheldoripoteka, A subsidiary of Russian Railways, plans to build a chain of three-star hotels near railway stations in Russian cities. A total of US$225 million is to be invested in the project which could amount to 1,500 rooms by the end of 2010, and among the first cities selected are Sochi and Yekaterinburg. Zheldoripoketa is reportedly negotiating with an international operator for the operation of the hotels.

NH Hoteles Announces Its Earnings For The First Five Months Of 2008 | NH Hoteles has announced that from January to May 2008 its hotel revenue rose by 10.7% to €596.2 million, resulting in a net profit of €25.3 million, and revenue per available room increased by 3.0% for the first five months of the year.

Whitbread Releases A Trading Statement For 13 Weeks To 29 May 2008 | Whitbread has announced an increase in total sales for its Premier Inn brand of 18.3% and an increase of like for like sales of 10.7%. The group’s revenue per available room increased by 6.2% and, owing to the expansion of Premier Inn, the number of rooms sold has increased by 8.3%. Whitbread’s chief executive Alan Parker commented that ‘Premier Inn continues to outperform the hotel market’.

Kiessling’s Corner | HVS’s analyst in Madrid Gabriele Kiessling gives us the latest news from Spain. This week Hilton opened its sixth establishment in Spain and its first establishment in Majorca: the Hilton Sa Torre Majorca. The 90-room hotel (which includes 15 suites) will be operated under a long-term franchise agreement with the owning company, Dracplus, part of the Drac Group, and Gestión T3 Hoteles, which will be managing the hotel. The hotel is constructed around a tower dating back to the fourteenth century and is located in the area of Llucmajor, in Majorca.The hotel’s facilities include a spa, a gym, tennis courts, swimming pools and meeting facilites. On the mainland, the Husa Puerta de Zaragoza hotel, part of the Husa Hoteles hotel group, has recently opened, coinciding with the inauguration of the Expo Zaragoza 2008. The four-star, 256-room hotel is one of the new establishments that were developed to increase the hotel offering of the Aragon capital before the start of the events at Expo Zaragoza. The hotel is the third Hotusa within the city, after the Husa Via Romana and the Husa Zaragoza Royal. The hotel will be managed under a 20-year lease contract.

Absolute Share Price Performance Over the Past Week 12-19 June 2008

  • Sol Melia - Moody's Investors Service confirmed its 'Baa3' rating on the company.
  • NH Hoteles - The company were downgraded to 'Neutral' by FEL, and its target price was cut from €9.5 to €9.0.
  • Accor - Affected by a downgrade to 'Sell' from 'Hold' by ABN AMRO, Accor lost 2.6%.

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]
Dominique Bourdais, Director at [email protected]
Christopher Mumford, MD Executive Search at [email protected]
Laurent de Kousemaeker, Director at [email protected]

HVS International is a hospitality services firm providing industry skill and knowledge worldwide. The organization and its specialists possess a wide range of expertise and offer market feasibility studies, valuations, strategic analyses, development planning, and litigation support. Additionally, HVS International supplies unique knowledge in the areas of executive search, investment banking, environmental sustainability, timeshare consulting, food and beverage operations, interior design, gaming, technology strategies, organizational assessments, operational management, strategy development, convention facilities consulting, marketing communications, property tax appeals and investment consulting. Since 1980, HVS International has provided hospitality services to more than 10,000 hotels throughout the world. Principals and associates of the firm have authored textbooks and thousands of articles regarding all aspects of the hospitality industry. Click here for more...