Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Founder and Chairman Isadore Sharp was honoured by The British Travel Industry Hall of Fame at a special awards dinner on April 25, 2013 in London. The Hall of Fame was created in 1995 to "honour excellence and outstanding achievement in those who have played a significant part in creating and developing the travel, hospitality and tourism industry."
Dorchester Collection's iconic British hotel in the heart of Mayfair, The Dorchester, and new contemporary hotel 45 Park Lane of the same location, were awarded Forbes Travel Guide highest Five-Star Award, two of only six hotels in London to receive the recommendation, and only 82 in the world. This marks the first hotel ratings in Europe for Forbes Travel Guide, which has anonymously inspected and rated hotels, restaurants and spas since the company’s founding in 1958 as Mobil Travel Guide.
The London hotel market experienced a gross operating profit decline of 7.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2013, according to the latest HotStats survey. In the first three months of 2013, RevPAR (Revenue per Available Room) and TRevPAR (Total Revenue per Available Room) performance declined by 3.4% and 2.5%, respectively, when compared to 2012 performance.
Mr Sherwood, who ran the luxury hotel and train company for 13 years until 2007, is to lead the strategic development of D&D London, the restaurant chain set up by Sir Terence Conran. D&D London, which began life as Conran Restaurants and whose sites include some of London’s best known eateries, was bought by LDC as part of a £50m management buy-out. Well-known restaurants owned by the company include Bluebird in Chelsea and Quaglino’s in Mayfair.
The Autograph Collection, Marriott International's (NYSE: MAR) exclusive portfolio of upscale, independent hotels continues to grow in Europe with the introduction of two new extraordinary travel experiences this spring. Threadneedles, in the heart of London's financial district, and The Glasshouse in central Edinburgh, Scotland, will represent the Autograph Collection's first hotels in the United Kingdom. The additions are set to expand the exclusive portfolio of upscale, independent lifestyle hotels to include more than 40 exceptional hotel experiences in the United States, Europe, Caribbean, and South America.
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC today announces it has agreed to sell InterContinental London Park Lane ("the Hotel") to Constellation Hotel (Opco) UK S.A., which is an affiliate of Constellation Hotels Holding Limited, a Middle Eastern private investment group. IHG's leasehold interest in the Hotel has been sold for gross cash proceeds of £301.5m ($457m*), 62% above 31 December 2012 net book value.
Demand levels increased as occupancy rose by 1.4 percentage points to 75.9%, albeit at the expense of average room rate (-1.8%). As a result, RevPAR (Revenue per Available Room) remained flat. Encouragingly, TRevPAR (Total Revenue per Available Room) increased by 0.8%, underpinned by an increase in non-rooms departmental revenue performance (+2.6%) when compared with February 2012 performance.
She will continue her role as Chairman of Just a Drop, the international water charity she founded in 1998. Reed has supported this charity since its inception and will continue to do so. Jeffery, who received the OBE for services to tourism last year, is to take on fresh challenges after leading World Travel Market to its commanding position as the leading global event for the travel industry.
Today, the Chief Executive of London's biggest hotel brand, Grant Hearn, officially opened the first ever UK hotel above a comedy club in Bethnal Green and also announced the Company's location target list for a further 145 hotels across the capital.
Malmaison Group (Malmaison), the owner of leading UK boutique hotel brands Malmaison and Hotel du Vin, and KSL Capital Partners, LLC (KSL), are pleased to announce that an affiliate of KSL has acquired Malmaison. KSL, based in Denver, Colorado, is a U.S. private equity firm dedicated to investing in travel and leisure businesses.
Asia Pacific's leading luxury hotel group, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, will open its first property in the United Kingdom in the summer of 2013. London's first elevated luxury hotel will occupy levels 34 to 52 of The Shard. As with every property in the group, it will operate on the simple yet powerful philosophy of Shangri-La's legendary hospitality.
Rosewood Hotels & Resorts®, one of the world's most respected ultra-luxury hotel groups, will open Rosewood London in October 2013, overseeing a more than USD130 million (GBP85 million) renovation to transform a 1914 Edwardian, Grade II-listed building on High Holborn. The hotel will add a world-class property that blends English heritage with contemporary sophistication to the Rosewood collection, whose properties include The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel in New York and Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek® in Dallas.
This report focuses on the UK market, however the issues highlighted apply to numerous developed markets as the market conditions, competitive characteristics, and responses are all very similar. Published in March, the report states, "While we still anticipate overall trading declines in 2013, these falls are less sharp for London but more unfavourable for the provinces then we predicted in November. The revised forecast expects UK hotels to continue to struggle to overcome the impact of weaker demand at home and in major inbound markets."
The Halkin by COMO, London, has announced the appointment of Simon Wakefield as its new General Manager. Simon returns to The Halkin after almost a decade, having first worked at COMO’s Belgravia hotel when it opened in 2004 as Rooms Division Manager.
Hendrik comes to Grosvenor House Apartments by Jumeirah Living with a wealth of experience across the luxury hotel and travel sector. For the past 15 years, Hendrik has held pivotal leadership roles across many international hotels including Nikko Hotel International, Steigenberger Hotels and Resorts, The Dorchester Collection, Hilton Hotels and Resorts and Kempinski.
This updated UK hotels forecast reflects our latest thinking on hotel performance in 2013, with the outlook now impacted by weaker UK economic prospects but also supported by a weaker pound. While we still anticipate overall trading declines in 2013, these falls are less sharp for London but more unfavourable for the provinces than we predicted in November.
Strengthening its European presence, Interstate Hotels & Resorts– the leading U.S.-based global hotel management company – announced today its entrance into theUnited Kingdom as the first U.S.-based, third party management company with significant operating presence and a fully staffed team based in the U.K. Interstate acquired the management platform of Sanguine Hospitality – aLiverpool-based hospitality development and ownership company. Boasting a diverse U.K. portfolio, Interstate will gain a strong foothold in the country backed with the Company's industry-leading people, systems and relationships.
Starwood Capital Group, a leading private investment firm, and PrincipalHayley Group("Principal Hayley"), the leading business, conference & events hotel group, announced today that an investment fund affiliated with Starwood Capital Group ("Starwood") has acquired Principal Hayley. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Profit decline in January was amongst the greatest suffered by hotels in London since the market recovered out of its recessionary slump more than three years ago, according to the latest HotStats survey of approximately 625 full-service hotels across the UK by TRI Hospitality Consulting.
The last quarter of 2012 was certainly unusual. Regional hotels saw record growth in all KPIs, but London could not match the previous year's performance. This was in spite of October being a champion month all round, with both the Regions and London outperforming against the previous October. It was December, an underperforming month for both markets, that witnessed a comparatively poor performance. October brought a boost to occupancy for both London (1.6%) and the Regions (0.4%), with the stand-out performers being London's deluxe hotels, rising by 3.7%. In the Regions, airport hotels soared highest for occupancy, with a 4.9% increase. By contrast, budget hotel demand seemed to slip, recording a -6.5% occupancy decrease. The overall market increase in occupancy for October, combined with the AARR growth, saw rooms yield rise for London (5.5%) and Regional hotels (2.0%).