InterContinental Hotels Group - UBS had a 'Sell' rating and raised its target price from 620p to 700p. | Starwood Hotels & Resorts - Fitch Ratings assigned a 'BB+' rating to Starwood's senior notes due 2019. Fitch kept its rating outlook at 'Negative'. | Sol Meliá - Natixis had an 'Add' rating and cut its target price from €9.0 to €8.3. — Photo by HVS

Leading Family Hotels And Kinderhotels Brands Look To Expand | Continent Hotels & Resorts, the Turkish hotel management, development and franchise company, is to partner with Austrian company Mayer, headed by Ernst Mayer, to assist in the promulgation worldwide of brands to which the Mayer company holds the master rights: Leading Family Hotels and Kinderhotels. The campaign will focus initially on eastern Europe, with the partnership looking for new-build hotels to take the Leading Family Hotels brand and for existing hotels wishing to take the Kinderhotels franchise. The brands, which are at present confined to Germany and Austria, target holidaying families with children.

Wyndham And Ramada Encore To Make Their Middle East Debuts | Neither Wyndham nor Ramada Encore has been to the Middle East before, but each brand will soon be getting sand in its shoes: Wyndham Hotel Group will be managing one hotel of each brand in the region by the end of 2011. The 210-room Wyndham Riyadh-King Abdullah Financial District is set to open in the third quarter of 2011 and is the first hotel to be developed in the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD), in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh. The hotel will be owned by the Saudi Public Pension Agency, which is the parent of Rayadah Investment Company, the real estate developer responsible for KAFD. The Ramada Encore brand is heading for Doha, the capital of Qatar, where Regency Group Holding is working on the Ramada Encore Doha. The 110-room hotel – the first managed Ramada Encore hotel – is expected to open in the second quarter of 2010.

End-Of-Year Promotion | All the effort that the Hyatt Regency Istanbul has put into renovation work in recent years will have its reward on 1 December. That is the day when the 360-room hotel will be promoted to Hyatt’s own premier league and become the Grand Hyatt Istanbul. It is a select league is Grand Hyatt – there being only 38 hotels worldwide – and Turkey’s first entry into the league already has consolidation on its mind, with additional renovation work planned as far ahead as 2011.

Doubletree On Its Way To Saudi Arabia | The first Doubletree by Hilton hotel in Saudi Arabia goes to the city of Al Khobar on the country’s east coast. Hilton Worldwide has signed a management agreement with Hamad Bin Abdulaziz Almousa Trading Group, for whom the 304-room Doubletree by Hilton, Al Khobar is a first foray into the hospitality segment. The hotel will be part of the high-rise Shobily development and the hotel is expected to open in the final quarter of 2012.

Cairo In Receipt Of A Radisson Blu | Rezidor Hotel Group now has a sixth Radisson Blu hotel in Egypt with the opening of the Radisson Blu Hotel, Cairo Heliopolis. The 427-room hotel, which Rezidor announced in May 2008, is the company’s first in the capital Cairo. With the Park Inn Sharm el Sheikh Resort included, Rezidor now has a total of 2,350 rooms in Egypt.

Barnsley House To Be Renovated | Renovation work on Barnsley House, in Barnsley, Gloucestershire, is to begin next February. The 18-room, Grade II listed hotel, which is known worldwide for its gardens, will be fully refreshed by next spring. Calcot Health and Leisure this summer paid a reported £6.6 million to rescue the hotel and The Village Pub from administration.

Kiessling's Corner | Iberostar has opened the new five-star boutique hotel Grand Hotel Salomé on Costa Adeje, in Tenerife; the hotel has 23 suites. The Mandarin Oriental Barcelona has opened after an investment of €150 million. The hotel has 98 rooms, and its most expensive suite measures 235 m². The Vincci Selección Posada del Patio is to be the first five-star hotel in Málaga. The hotel is expected to open in March 2010. According to the owner, the total investment in the hotel was €22 million. By Gabriele Kiessling, Analyst, HVS Madrid


  • InterContinental Hotels Group - UBS had a 'Sell' rating and raised its target price from 620p to 700p.
  • Starwood Hotels & Resorts - Fitch Ratings assigned a 'BB+' rating to Starwood's senior notes due 2019. Fitch kept its rating outlook at 'Negative'.
  • Sol Meliá - Natixis had an 'Add' rating and cut its target price from €9.0 to €8.3.

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.