HVS EMEA Hospitality Newsletter – Week Ending 1 April 2011

IT’S A FAMILY AFFAIR FOR THE CADOGAN ESTATE - The historic Cadogan Hotel, in Knightsbridge, London, has been purchased by the family-owned Cadogan Estate for £15.4 million from New York-based real estate investment company Trinity Hotel Investors. Cadogan now plans to embark on a refurbishment of the property. “The plan is to continue to operate the hotel as it is but to upgrade it so it better reflects the elegance of Sloane Street”, said Hugh Seaborn, Cadogan Estate’s chief executive. “Earl Cadogan is delighted that the hotel bearing his family name has been returned to the family estate”, he added. The 65-room hotel, which was built in 1887, is part of the Franklyn Hotels and Resorts collection.

TWO SPRING SALES - Two hotels in the northwest of England have been sold by administrators for an undisclosed sum: the 194-room Radisson Blu in Liverpool and the 279-room Hilton Manchester Deansgate in the city of Manchester, which will continue to be operated by Rezidor Hotel Group and Hilton Worldwide, respectively. Both hotels were previously owned by UK property development and investment company the Beetham Organization whose hotel business went into administration last month. It is rumoured that the properties were purchased by Cypriot businessman Loucas Louca through two new companies (Blue Liverpool and Blue Manchester) that he launched last October.

A NEW DAWN AND A NEW DAY IN LIVERPOOL - Every day is a new day in the city of Liverpool, in northwest England, but the port on the mouth of the River Mersey celebrated a particularly special 24 hours this week, when Wyndham Worldwide’s Days Inn brand moved in. The 154-room Days Inn Liverpool City Centre, which is owned and operated by UK-based Sanguine Hospitality Management Company, has set up home in the five-storey Moor House building, formerly offices of the Ministry of Defence.

TRANSACTIONS UPDATE - We are grateful to have received details of the price paid for the Holiday Inn Express, Dresden, which was €18 million as opposed to the €15 million we had previously reported in our European Transactions report. You can download an updated copy of the report here.

HILTON TO ALMOST DOUBLE ITS CONRAD PORTFOLIO - Hilton Worldwide’s Conrad Hotels & Resorts brand (currently 15 properties) has an additional 14 hotels in the pipeline. Over the next 14 months new hotels and resorts will open in China, Thailand, Portugal, the USA and the UAE. Another eight properties are expected to open by the end of 2013. The 158-room Conrad Algarve Palacio Da Qunita will make its debut in the second quarter of this year as the first Conrad in Portugal.

THE COOLEST HOTEL IN THE WORLD - Ferraday Hotels has this week signed a deal to open its first in a series of ice hotels. The Zebra Arctic Hotel, designed by world-famous ice sculptor Flora Pilo, will be the company’s second hotel on the continent. The property will use cutting-edge technology to provide guests with supreme comfort in this themed hotel, which will see staff dressed in dinner jackets and white shirts and feature a number of Emperor suites. “This has been a lifelong ambition of mine, and everyone at Ferrady is very excited about this challenging new project,” said Vic Fries, Head of Development Franchise North America at Ferraday.

A NEW SLICE OF TURKISH DELIGHT FOR REZIDOR - Rezidor Hotel Group has announced a new hotel for the city of Istanbul in Turkey: the Radisson Blu Hotel, Istanbul, Sisli, which is expected to open in the third quarter of 2012. The 305-room property is owned and being developed by Dilek Holding and, once open, will bring the number of rooms Rezidor has in Turkey’s largest city to nearly 1,000. Rezidor now has four hotels either in operation or under development in Istanbul.

MARRIOTT TO RESIDE IN SCOTLAND - Marriott International is bringing its extended stay Residence Inn brand to Scotland. A product of a management agreement with Gladedale Ventures, a subsidiary of Scotland-based Gladedale Group Holdings, the 107-unit Residence Inn Edinburgh will open in October 2011 as part of the £450 million mixed-use Quartermile development in Edinburgh city centre. This is Marriott’s second Residence Inn property in Europe after the 125-unit Residence Inn Munich City Centre East, in Germany, which is also due to open this autumn.

MORE TRAVELODGES FOR EUROPE - UK-based Travelodge is on the lookout for new opportunities to expand. No specific destinations have been mentioned but the budget brand’s chief executive, Guy Parsons, has said “we are looking at other countries in Europe”. Outside the UK, Travelodge currently operates hotels in Spain and Ireland. However, one of the group’s long-term aims is to increase its portfolio in Spain from three hotels to 50; discussing this goal, Parsons added that there are “a large number of sites where we are going to start building. Spain’s economy is starting to perform better. Hotels are having a good year.”

A HAMPTON BY HILTON FOR LONDON - Cardinal Thomas Wolsey first bought the Hampton brand to London in 1515 when he started building what later became Hampton Court Palace. However, it looks like there may soon be a new kid on the block! It was reported this week that Hilton Worldwide is close to signing a deal which will introduce a Hampton by Hilton to the UK’s capital city. A 300-room hotel is to be developed on a 1.5-acre site, owned by Rising Star property group, near Waterloo Station. The hotel is scheduled to open in 2012 and will be operated by Shiva Hotels. There are currently eight Hampton by Hilton hotels in operation in the UK.

SOLÍS TO SET DOWN IN QATAR - Solís Hotels & Resorts has announced its first project for the Middle East. The Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development has appointed the luxury hotel group, headed by Horst Schulze, to manage the Solís Doha in Qatar. The 418-room hotel is expected to open in 2015 next to the Qatar National Convention Centre. Solís’s portfolio currently comprises three properties in the USA, Jamaica and Ireland.

REZIDOR’S AFRICAN QUEEN - In the fourth quarter of 2011 Rezidor Hotel Group will make its debut in Sierra Leone, West Africa, with its Radisson Blu brand. The 171-room Mammy Yoko Hotel, in the country’s capital Freetown, is currently undergoing extensive renovation and will reopen later this year as the Radisson Blu Mammy Yoko Hotel, Freetown. “…the region is one of our focus markets for future business development, and this hotel perfectly complements other current and upcoming projects in Dakar, Bamako, Lagos, Accra and Abuja”, said Kurt Ritter, Rezidor’s chief executive officer.

GLADEN’S TIDINGS - The latest news from Spain by Esther Gladen, Business & Market Intelligence Analyst, HVS Madrid. Two more hotels for Medplaya Hotel Group: the group has added the 120-room, three-star Hotel Villasol in Benalmádena (Costa del Sol) and the 230-room, four-star Hotel Pirámide Salou in Salou (Costa Dorada) to its portfolio, which now comprises 15 hotels. An Ayre hotel to open in Oviedo’s congress centre: Ayre Hoteles, a Fiesta Hotel Group brand, plans to open its new 155-room, four-star hotel in the second half of May in the Palacio de Congresos in Oviedo, Asturias. The opening of the Paramount theme park in Murcia is scheduled for 2015: the masterplan for the 158-hectare project in Murcia, only 15 minutes away from the beach and the Puerto de Mazarron marina, was officially presented last week. The project includes two five-star hotels, three four-star hotels and several three-star properties, as well as a conference centre with more than 3,000 seats and an open-air auditorium with a capacity for 15,000 people.

Sol Meliá – Sol Meliá strengthened above its Moving Average Price (MAP); its 50-day MAP outperformed its 200-day MAP.
Accor – Accor's share prices fell this week as the company suffered from profit taking.
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) – Share prices fell despite IHG strengthening above its MAP.