News & Stories
Chicago. Preferred Hotel Group has added 52 properties to its worldwide membership roster in the past two quarters. The group features more than 300 hotels in 52 countries covering 60, 000 hotel rooms under the brands Preferred Hotels & Resorts; Preferred Boutique; Summit Hotels & Resorts; and Sterling Hotels.
Hamilton/Bermuda. British Orient-Express Hotels sells its 49% shareholding in Harry's Bar Ltd. to its partner Mark Birley Holdings Ltd. for 9.5 million pounds Sterling. The shares were independently valued and have been sold at that valuation.
Berlin. The serviced apartments market of Germany has been developing well and is registering positive growth rates. The forecast remains optimistic. Although there have been practically no openings in 2005, occupancy rates of about 70% surpass those of the classic hotel industry.
Cape Town. Eurocape, the developers of the R1-billion Mandela Rhodes Place, has announced a partnership with Indian Hotels Company Ltd to develop Cape Town's newest addition in luxury hotel rooms and luxury residences. The five-star hotel will form part of the Mandela Rhodes Place lifestyle complex in Cape Town.
Paris. The 18th Football World Cup in Germany, prompting six weeks of media frenzy, heightened by the 15,000 journalists in attendance. Three million spectators will fill the twelve stadiums of the competition, a figure that is likely to double when including the total number of tourists arriving in Germany to participate directly or indirectly in this event. The French consultancy MKG compares the current Football World Cup's potential to previous events.
Munich. The estate agent and consulting company Dr Luebke in Munich has now published a five page dossier on the hotel market in Munich in 2005.
Berlin. The new Rocco Forte Grand Hotel de Rome in Berlin was first set to open today for the start of the Football World Cup in Berlin. Then the date was set back to some point during the World Cup. Then it was postponed again till 1 September. Meanwhile, even this announcement has turned into an own goal.
Bad Orb. For several years, the city of Bad Orb in the Spessart region close to Frankfurt has been trying to find an investor for its cure center in deficit through its contacts to China. Now, the coup seems to have succeeded. The hereditary lease agreement with an investor from Shanghai has been signed. The package includes the current Steigenberger Hotel Bad Orb.
Paris. Following the takeover of the French Taittinger group in July 2005 for 1.2 billion Euros, the American investment company Starwood Capital is now set to split - as expected - from the Champagne branch to concentrate on hotels.
Orlando. Hilton Hotels Corporation plans to build a 1,000-room Hilton and a 500-room Waldorf-Astoria at Bonnet Creek, a resort development adjacent to the Walt Disney World Resort. Construction of the project is currently in the design phase and is on schedule to break ground by the end of 2006 and to open in the summer of 2009. It's the first new project since the Waldorf-Astoria Collection was announced.