News & Stories

Madrid. Italy's biggest insurance company and an Italian investment company will take a stake in the Spanish hotel group HN Hoteles, as became public at the company's annual general meeting in Madrid last week. The business is developing well in Germany.

Hong Kong. Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts will expand in India and in Inner Mongolia. New contracts are just signed and announced.

Moscow. Four Seasons Hotels Inc. confirmed that it has signed an agreement to manage a new hotel on the site of the former Hotel Moskva in Moscow, Russia.

London. For the second year in a row, Venice was the best performing market in 2004 in terms of revenue per available room according to the HotelBenchmark Global Ranking Index. The GRI compares the performance of 165 global cities outside North America on an annual basis in terms of RevPar and occupancy.  

Tokyo. JAL Hotels Co., Ltd., operator of the Nikko Hotels International group of luxury international hotels, continues to expand in the booming Chinese market with the addition of Dalian and Tianjin hotels. Other cities will follow.

Munich. The year 2004 proved to be another extremely active year for the European hotel investment market. Investments from private equity groups and high net worth individuals grew, activity from institutional investors declined. The market is getting more international. A study from Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels shows optimism that hotel trading will continue to improve in 2005.

London. England is again playing a leading role in the introduction of new products and innovations at Choice Hotels.