IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), [LON: IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] today announced the signing of the Holiday Inn Express in the city of Rio Branco, Brazil. The new-build property is slated to open in November 2013. The hotel will be owned by Inter-Oceanica Hotelaria e Turismo Ltda., under a franchise agreement with a company in the InterContinental Hotels Group.
Upon opening, the seven-story Holiday Inn Express Rio Branco will feature 110 guestrooms, four meeting rooms, business center, fitness center, indoor pool and plenty of guest parking.
Rio de Janeiro's newly renovated Windsor Atlântica Hotel has signed an agreement with Utell® Hotels & Resorts for global representation and marketing, and with Pegasus Solutions® for Global Commission Processing. The 545-room Windsor Atlântica becomes the fifth property to join Utell from Windsor Hotels Group, and Utell's 18th Rio de Janeiro property.
In 2011, Pullman, the upscale chain of the Accor group, is expanding into six new countries, with openings in the Netherlands (Eindhoven), Brazil (Sao Paulo), Indonesia (Bali and Jakarta), New Zealand (Auckland) and, before the end of the year, Vietnam (Hanoi) and India (Gurgaon).
Set in a space of 5,000 m² and exclusively dedicated for Hospitality and Culinary Arts programmes, the campus has eight classrooms, five laboratories -each with a kitchen-, a housekeeping demonstration room and a restaurant with bar adapted to provide practical know-how to the students. In addition, there are two computer rooms, auditorium with capacity for 170 people and 200 parking spaces.
Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces announced that it will add travel industry sales representation in Brazil for many of its 108 properties worldwide through a partnership with The Private Label Company (The PLC). "As Taj Hotels continues its global expansion, it is vital that we develop brand awareness in emerging markets with a strong affinity for international luxury travel," said Raymond Bickson, Managing Director and CEO, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces.
Pmweb, a Brazilian company specializing in digital marketing strategies and CRM solutions for the hospitality industry, today announced that an agreement has been signed with EZYield, the world's leading provider of advanced channel management solutions. The new agreement will allow Pmweb to launch Pmweb EZYield, giving them the ability to offer an integrated channel management tool to their hotel clients in the Brazilian market. EZYield is the originator of automated online distribution management solutions, providing hoteliers with a comprehensive suite of connectivity and distribution solutions.
VingCard Elsafe, the global leader in hospitality security and part of the ASSA ABLOY Group, has completed installation of its Signature RFID by VingCard electronic door locks at the newly renovated Royal Palm Plaza in Campinas, Brazil. The largest hotel for events in Brazil, the 500-room hotel offers four pools, three restaurants, a water park and a cinema for visiting travelers and locals alike. The hotel also boasts two children's theme parks: "Miniville," for those young enough to enjoy visiting a colorful cast of costumed characters, and "Kata Kuka," for the older set who would prefer labyrinths, treetop walks, climbing walls, a zip line and many other attractions.
Atlantica Hotels International announces an important addition to its network of hotels in the city of São Paulo. The new hotel, an imposing development on Avenida Ibirapuera in Moema, also marks the arrival of the Park Inn by Radisson brand in Brazil, the first country in the Americas to have the brand in operation. The Park Inn by Radisson Ibirapuera will complete the flag conversion on February 17. The new addition strengthens Atlantica Hotels as flag conversion leader. Investment in modernization of the hotel and adaptation to the new flag will reach R$1.7 million in the next 12 months.
The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) and the Associação Brasileira de Gestores de Eventos e Viagens Corporativas (ABGEV, the Brazilian Business and Events Travel Association) today announced a five year agreement to expand the two associations' partnership with a focus on broadening business travel and meetings management principles through conferences and educational offerings in Brazil and throughout South America.
Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE: H) announced today that a Hyatt affiliate has acquired a majority interest in a 46,000 square meter ocean-front property in Barra da Tijuca, an upscale residential and commercial district of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the purpose of developing a 408-room Grand Hyatt hotel on the site.
Three regional hotel groups in Brazil announces the formation of Allia Hotels, the largest 100% national hotel chain in the country. As the result from the alliance between Bristol Hotels, based in Minas Gerais; Plaza Inn Hotels, based in São Paulo and Solare Hotel Group, from Maranhão, the new group bears with already 40 hotels in operation and more than 3,000 rooms and approximately 1,600 employees.
Armed with expanding credit and rising incomes, Brazilians are spending more – and that includes on travel. Demand for domestic flights surged in the first half of 2010, while hotel rates are also up. “More and more Brazilians are travelling and spending money on hotels”, Ricardo Mader, executive vice president of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, an investment services group, told beyondbrics.
How have the main Brazilian hospitality markets evolved in the past years and what are the perspectives for the post-crisis? This report shows an overview and an outlook about the cities of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Salvador and Curitiba.
Marriott International, Inc. has opened a new development office in Sao Paulo, Brazil as part of an overall global restructuring of the company to focus on growth in emerging markets with a local focus. Guilherme Cesari has been named vice president of development for Brazil, reporting to Laurent de Kousemaeker, chief development officer for Marriott in the Caribbean & Latin America region. Most recently, Mr. Cesari served as partner at HVS; the world’s largest consulting firm specializing in hotel investments, based in their Sao Paulo office.
As they gear up for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, Brazil’s Ministry of Tourism and the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) are looking to refresh the country’s hotel inventory with a 1-billion Brazilian reais (US$544.5-million) line of credit for property refurbishment, expansion and ground-up construction.
Having emerged strengthened from the global financial crisis, Brazil — in contrast with the current international economic climate — offers excellent investment opportunities, especially in the hospitality industry. Brazil is a large economy with a highly favorable medium and long-term outlook, and in fact now may be a unique moment of opportunity in the country's history. It is also true, however, that Brazil has some very peculiar characteristics and that doing business in the country is not easy. In this context, we aim in this article to clarify broadly the specificities of the Brazilian hotel market and its current situation, and then discuss investment opportunities.
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and Jumeirah Group plan to open their first hotels in Brazil as rising incomes in Latin America’s largest economy and the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic games generate demand. “The time is right now for us to be entering the Brazilian market,” James Erlacher, senior vice president of development for the Americas at the Dubai-based Jumeirah Group, said in an interview in New York.
Brazil's hotel industry remains attractive even at a time in which international tourism is suffering the consequences of the crisis. The country's potential as an investment target was highlighted at the 2nd South American Hotel & Tourism Investment Conference (Sahic), held this week in the city of Rio de Janeiro, in southeastern Brazil. According to the general coordinator of Investment Promotion of the Ministry of Tourism, Laércio de Souza, who attended the event, the market perception is that the reduction in the average occupation rate of hotels was low when compared with other countries and, at the same time, fees have increased, thus making up for the lower number of visitors.
Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration will sponsor the second annual South American Hotel & Tourism Investment Conference (SAHIC), which will be held September 14 and 15, 2009, at the Sofitel Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. More than 500 of the most influential players in the hotel investment industry are expected to gather at this meeting, which is structured after the major international hotel investment conferences in Berlin (IHIF), Dubai (AHIC), Hong Kong (HICAP), Mumbai (HICSA), New York (NYU), and San Diego (ALIS) and is quickly becoming the epicenter of the hospitality and travel investment world in South America.