HVS EMEA Hospitality Enews - Week Ending 8 January 2010

Concorde’s Second Flight To Tunisia | Paris-based Concorde Hotels & Resorts has announced that it is to open two new hotels in Tunisia, bringing its portfolio in the country up to three properties. The new hotels, which are to be developed in the capital Tunis, in the northeast, and the port of Bizerta, in the north, are expected to be completed in 2012. Concorde currently operates the 128-room Les Berges du Lac Concorde, in Tunis, and it has six hotels in total in Africa and the Middle East.

Doubletree To Debut In Greece | The Greek island of Kos, in the Aegean Sea, is to be the home of the first Doubletree by Hilton property in Greece. Hilton Worldwide has signed a franchise agreement with Athens-based Akti Helona SA for the 238-room Doubletree by Hilton Resort, Kos – Helona, which is expected to open in May 2010. This will be Hilton’s second hotel in the country alongside the 508-room Hilton Athens.

Villa Rothschild to Be Reborn As A Kempinski | The Villa Rothschild, in Frankfurt, Germany, opened in 1894 as a summer residence for the banker Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild. In 1949 it became the venue for the creation of the contracts for the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany, and has since been known as the “birth place of the Federal Republic”. At the beginning of a new decade, the 22-room boutique hotel is now ready to start its third incarnation: the Villa Rothschild Kempinski Königstein Frankfurt. This is Kempinski Hotels’ second property in the city. whilst it was in Frankfurt, Kempinski also changed its sales and marketing contract for the 106-room Kempinski Hotel Falkenstein to a full management agreement (as part of its European expansion plans) and the hotel’s name to the Falkenstein Grand Kempinski Königstein.

A New Year And A New Deal For Whitbread | Whitbread and M&G Investments have exchanged agreements for the sale and leaseback of five Premier Inn properties in the UK. The deal is expected to be completed this month and will see M&G pay Whitbread £36.6 million (in cash) for the hotels. M&G is to hold 25-year leases for the hotels, which will still be operated by Whitbread.

Travelodge To Expand by 15 Hotels | Travelodge has announced its New Year’s resolution this week: the UK budget hotel company plans to spend £115 million in 2010 to open 15 new hotels, expanding the company’s portfolio by more than 2,000 rooms. The new properties will be developed in city centre or seaside locations. One such location is Aberdeen, in northeast Scotland, which will see the fruits of this resolution ripen this autumn when a 119-room Travelodge hotel is scheduled to open in the city.

From The World’s Tallest Building… | The world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, in Dubai, UAE, is now officially open, but the world will have to be patient and wait a little bit longer for its first Armani-branded hotel, which is being developed in the 818-metre-high building. The 160-room Armani Hotel Dubai, a project developed by Giorgio Armani and Emaar Properties, is scheduled to open on 18 March 2010. The Italian city of Milan will become the second destination to receive an Armani hotel later this year.

…To Its Tallest Hotel | The emirate of Dubai can now claim to be the home of not only the tallest building in the word but the also the tallest hotel in the world with the opening of the 482-room, 73-storey Rose Rayhaan by Rotana this week, on Sheikh Zayed Road. This is Rotana’s second hotel to open under its Rayhaan alcohol-free brand. Hotel number one was the 433-room Al Marwa Rayhaan by Rotana – Makkah in the city of Makkah (Mecca), Saudi Arabia.

Christmas and New Year Roundup | InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) signed a ten-year management agreement with Groupe Cible Expansion for the 55-room InterContinental Paris Avenue Marceau, formerly the Crowne Plaza Champs Elysees; this is IHG’s second InterContinental property in Paris. Hilton Worldwide signed a management agreement with Societe Touristique Tunisie Golfe which will see the 283-room Karthago Palace Hotel, near Tunis, rebranded as the Hilton Tunis Carthage Hotel early in 2010.

Gladen’s Tidings | The news from Spain by Esther Gladen, HVS Madrid. The four-Star Meliá Braga Hotel & Spa is scheduled to open in June 2010 in the city of Braga, northwestern Portugal. The hotel will have 180 rooms and several conference rooms. In 2008 the Radisson Blu El Marqués Resort & Spa in Mijas, Málaga, closed its doors; however, Rezidor Hotel Group’s Radisson Blu brand has now returned to Spain with the opening of the four-star, 54-room room Radisson Blu Hotel, Madrid Prado, close to the Golden Triangle of Art, in Madrid.

• Sol Meliá - Shares rose as UBS upgraded Sol Meliá to "buy" from "neutral".
• Rezidor Hotel Group - Shares rose as the company hit a two-month high on firm volume.
• Accor - Share prices fell as disappointing voucher revenues were reported by Sodexo