News & Stories

Berlin. Banks still regard hotel financing as a risky investment. However, most of the time, they lack the feeling for market trends and courage to take on niche hotels. Flexible contract models and private equity raise a glimmer of hope among operators.

London. UK-based 4-star hotel chain Macdonald Hotels is joining the long list of hoteliers undertaking a sale-and-manage back deal in order to raise funds. The 65-strong group has appointed Deloitte to advise it on the £ 200 million-plus sale of about 20 properties.

New York. In its latest deal Blackstone paid 10,45 US-Dollar a share or a 5,2 percent premium on MeriStar's closing price. The price represents 13 times projected 2007 earnings for MeriStar. Scooping up these hotels has led to speculation on Wall Street that Blackstone is preparing an initial public offering for its hotel property unit.

Munich. 2005 was an extraordinary year for fund initiators in Germany. Due to numerous legal and fiscal changes investors were up one minute and down the next. It is all the more astonishing that despite all this, an outstanding placing success was achieved to the tune of 12.3 billion euros. This is the result of the "Marktanalyse der Beteiligungsmodelle" by the journalist and analyst Stefan Loipfinger. Hotel real estate, however, is experiencing losses. They are performing against the trend.

Geneva. Swiss hotels are said to be notoriously unprofitable. Two years ago, Hôtels et Patrimoine was founded in order to acquire small underperforming hotels in the Lake of Geneva region and improving their cashflow and profitability through repositioning them as extended stay properties. Up to today, only tow of eight planned hotels were acquired. It is not easy to generate the capital needed.

London. InterContinental Hotels Group has placed a further portfolio of seven hotels on the market for disposal. These hotels are located in Continental Europe and all operate under the InterContinental brand.

Copenhagen. Danish Property Group plans to invest at least 700 to 800 million Euros this year alone in real estate in Germany - hotels included.

The Hague. The Dutch bank NIB Capital shows great interest in hotel financings on the German market. Until now it has only supported a single hotel here.

London. Hilton Group plc completed the sale of 15 hotels in the UK to The Managed Hotels Unit Trust, with funding arranged by RBS Group. The purchase price of the hotels is £382.4 million in cash.

Berlin. The Reconstruction Loan Corporation KfW paints a dark future for the hotel industry in its company survey 2005. A good three quarters of the companies surveyed were able to make investments in the last twelve months but over half were dependent on borrowed capital.