Starwood Hotels & Resorts - Goldman Sachs added the company to its conviction buy list. | Whitbread - The share price had climbed earlier in the week as Deutsche Bank said that the company's hotel assets were undervalued and that it expected significant growth in the Costa coffee business. | InterContinental Hotels Group - The share price, which had fallen on news of the company's interim figures, rallied slightly as Banc of America-Merrill Lynch raised its target price from 475p to 550p. — Photo by HVS

Giggs And Neville Hope To See Action In Malta | Blu(e) is a colour popular with Island Hotels Group: two of the hotels on Malta that it owns have the Radisson Blu brand. Red – the colour of Manchester United – is one that might also soon gain favour with the company, as Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville – two of the football club’s foremost players – are reportedly interested in taking a combined stake of 5-6% once the company is floated on the stock market later this year.

Rezidor To Open Three Hotels In Nigeria | Rezidor Hotel Group is to open three hotels in Nigeria in 2012: two in the capital Abuja, the other in the former capital Lagos. The Maitama district of Abuja will welcome a 200-room Radisson Blu hotel and a 125-room Park Inn. The 250-room Radisson Blu Hotel, Victoria Island Lagos, which will have views over the Atlantic Ocean, will be the second Radisson Blu hotel in Lagos; the first is due to open next year.

Baia Bursa Is The Fourth Baia Hotel In Turkey | Sönmez Holding Company has opened the fourth of its Baia-branded hotels in Turkey. The Baia Bursa, which is close to the centre of the city of Bursa, in the northwest of the country, has 150 rooms. Sönmez’s next task in the city is to renovate the thermal hotel Hüsnügüzel Hotel and Baths.

Plans Proposed For Piccadilly Pod | Part of the London Trocadero on Piccadilly Circus, in central London, is to be turned into a ‘pod’ hotel, according to reports. The 495 rooms, or pods, that would be created inside the Grade II listed building would take as their role model the Pod Hotel in New York. The provisional name of the hotel is the Piccadilly Hotel. Golfrate Holdings acquired the London Trocadero in July 2005.

Holidaybreak Buys The Liddington Hotel | Holidaybreak is to pay £9.44 million to take The Liddington Hotel out of administration. The 192-room hotel, which comes complete with 45 meeting and conference rooms, is set in 150 acres: a prime draw for Holidaybreak, which wants to reopen the site near Swindon, in southern England, as an outdoor education centre in spring 2010. The PGL Liddington (PGL being the division of Holidaybreak that provides leisure activities for young people) will have a total of up to £3.2 million spent on it over the three years from 2010.

Chocks Away! Biggin Hill Hotel Plan Takes Off At Last | Plans for a hotel at London Biggin Hill Airport, in Westerham, Kent, have been on the radar for some considerable time, but applications for a hotel of 100 rooms have been repeatedly shot down. An application for a hotel with 76 rooms was submitted to Bromley Borough Council in May, and this week the council was finally ready to cry tally-ho.

The Royal Lancaster Hotel Is To Change Its Name | The results of a cursory googling suggest that there is no hotel by the name of Royal Lancaster in the town of Lancaster. But if there is, then it will have the name all to itself from next month, as the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London is to change its name. The new name for the 416-room hotel, which overlooks Hyde Park, is the Lancaster London. The change is being made to better reflect the hotel’s location.

Kiessling's Corner | The Valencian hotel brand Magic Costa Blanca recently opened the Villa Venecia Hotel Boutique in Alicante. The five-star establishment, which occupies a building dating from 1867, has 25 rooms. Elsewhere, Galicia is planning to open a new Balneario in Ponte Caldelas (Pontevedra). However, the promoter El Bosque needs to sort out administrative issues before further plans can be made. The property will include 30 rooms, and relaxation and treatment zones. By Gabriele Kiessling, Analyst, HVS Madrid

InterContinental Hotels Group Reports Its Half-Year Results | “Trading was very challenging throughout the first half of the year”, said Andrew Cosslett, the chief executive of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). A look at his company’s results for the six months to 30 June 2009 will provide the curious with confirmation of this statement. IHG’s adjusted operating profit was down 38%, at US$179 million, and its revenue was down 25% on the previous year’s comparable, at US$726 million. Marketwide RevPAR was down 16.2%. Cosslett noted that the company expected the remainder of 2009 to be tough.


  • Starwood Hotels & Resorts - Goldman Sachs added the company to its conviction buy list.
  • Whitbread - The share price had climbed earlier in the week as Deutsche Bank said that the company's hotel assets were undervalued and that it expected significant growth in the Costa coffee business.
  • InterContinental Hotels Group - The share price, which had fallen on news of the company's interim figures, rallied slightly as Banc of America-Merrill Lynch raised its target price from 475p to 550p.

About HVS

HVS is the world's leading consulting and valuation services organization focused on the hotel, restaurant, shared ownership, gaming, and leisure industries. Established in 1980, the company performs more than 4,500 assignments per year for virtually every major industry participant. HVS principals are regarded as the leading professionals in their respective regions of the globe. Through a worldwide network of over 50 offices staffed by 300 experienced industry professionals, HVS provides an unparalleled range of complementary services for the hospitality industry. For further information regarding our expertise and specifics about our services, please visit www.hvs.com.