News & Stories
Toronto. In a surprising announcement today, Four Seasons founder Isadore Sharp made clear that he willing to sell the luxury hotel group. The two companies offering to take the listed company private are Kingdom Hotels International and Cascade Investment. The proposed transaction values Four Seasons at 3.7 billion USD.
Berlin. Park Plaza Europe with currently 23 hotels of the Park Plaza and art'otel brands in 56 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa wants to more than double the number of hotels within the next three years.
Geneva. The Global Hotel Alliance partners Kempinski, Omni, Pan Pacific and Rydges welcome three new members to the GHA from 1 January 2007, originating from the Asian Hotels Alliance. Two more groups have an option to join GHA during the next 12 months. Over the time a competitor for The Leading Hotels of the World could arise.
London/Tokio. InterContinental Hotels Group signed a hotel operating joint venture with Japanese All Nippon Airways, to be named IHG ANA Hotels Group Japan.
Milan. Italy will soon see a new luxury suite hotel opening its doors offering a straight 7 instead of 5 stars. A man from Milan wants to compete against the Burj Al Arab in Dubai - in all aspects apart from size: the hotel will only count 25 suites. The hotel pearl is to open up already in December 2006, but hardly anyone knows about that. A research with obstacles, crowned by an exclusive interview for hospitalityInside.com.
Zurich. Where can football teams coming to Switzerland for the "Euro 08" stay? Which top hotels will accommodate the sporting gentlemen and which will refuse to play the game? Renowned hotels refuse to accept the footballers.
Munich. Yesterday, the "fondstelegramm" industry service caused a lot of excitement by reporting about the details of a loan between Ebertz & Partner and one of its funds. It is about an intrinsic value fund 110, which was used to finance the InterContinental at Duesseldorf's top address of Koenigsallee. In this connection, fondstelegramm also mentions rumours about a restructuing of Dorint AG. Ebertz is still a shareholder of the company. hospitalityInside.com has heard about these rumours as well - and knows details.
Westlake Village. The second J.D. Power and Associates 2006 European Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study, released last week during the International Hotel Conference in Rome also ranks German Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts, Scandinavian/American Radisson SAS Hotels & Resorts, German Dorint Hotels & Resorts and Dutch Tulip Inns highest in guest satisfaction across four hotel segments.
Frankfurt/M. By the start of the German financial year on 1 October, member figures at Romantik Hotels & Restaurants International will have grown by 15 hotels in Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland. All in all, the consortia counts 194 members in 12 countries.