Alexander Hotels - a boutique hotel and spa group and member of Small Luxury Hotels of The World – has implemented the Guestline web-based PMS and Distribution Channel Manager to enable streamlined, group-level management.
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.
Christine Jones joins from Macdonald Hotels and Resorts as Brand Director. Previous roles include Group Sales and Marketing Manager for Costley Hotels and Director of Sales for Intercontinental Hotels, where she was the youngest ever Sales Director of the 330 Midland Hotel Manchester. As Head of Brand Jones is tasked with growing the portfolio of independently-owned hotels, with a particular focus on the brand’s recently-created PLUS and PREMIER offering.
Eileen joins the leading hotel group from The Beardmore Hotel & Conference Centre in Clydebank, where VIP guests included Her Majesty the Queen on four separate occasions. With over 25 year’s industry experience, Eileen’s career began as a silver service waitress, before moving on to front of house roles and management.
With 24 years experience in the industry, Stuart has worked his way up from the bottom, starting out as pot washer at the age of fifteen. The Scot has previously held general manager roles at Shrigley Hall Hotel, Golf & Country Club in Cheshire, The Marine Hotel Troon, Fairfield House Hotel in Ayr, and Edinburgh Capital Hotel.
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.
Hilton Worldwide today announced the signing of three franchise agreements for its rapidly expanding DoubleTree by Hilton brand in three more UK cities. Having opened 11 hotels in the UK in the last two years, the brand has reached agreement on additional sites in Bristol, Edinburgh and Nottingham.
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.
Pentahotels will open five new hotels in the UK and one in Prague this year, in addition to the previously announced pentahotel Hong Kong, Kowloon, opening summer 2013. The total seven new properties mark 2013 as the highest growth period in the history of this neighbourhood lifestyle hotel brand. The portfolio will expand by more than 50 percent from the current 2,925 to 4,409 hotel rooms worldwide. The group currently operates hotels in Germany (11), England (one), Austria (one) and China (two.)
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.
According to HORWATH HTL, 2013 will be a year when most European hotel markets finally emerge from the doldrums they have been in for the past 4 years. That’s not to say the situation will be rosy – far from it. But the indicators are looking better than they have for quite some time. To get an idea of the outlook in the key markets across the continent, The Hotel Yearbook asked 13 different offices of Horwath’s international network to contribute their professional assessment of where we are and where we are going.
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%).