News & Stories
Bad Arolsen. Hospitality Alliance plc has been consolidated. For eight years, the franchisor for the Ramada brand in Germany and Switzerland has made good figures. For the first six months of 2006 too, a 10.6% plus in profit has been recorded. Wyndham's biggest franchisor worldwide has cleaned its portfolio of non-profitable entities and is now expanding, even into Germany's border countries. Hospitality Alliance in facts and figures.
London. Last Friday, Travelodge, the UK's fastest growing hotel company was acquired by Dubai International Capital, a private equity firm within Dubai Holding, for a consideration of 675 million GBP from the Permira Funds. The acquisition is unconditional and is expected to complete by late September. For DIC it's the second acquisition in the hotel industry.
Bad Ragaz. In the Grand Hotels Bad Ragaz, one of the flagships for the Swiss hotel industry, renovation and extension works to a value of over 100 Swiss Francs are about to begin. Consistently positive business figures allow extension both to hotel and management. On 1 August, Peter Tschirky assumed his new position in Bad Ragaz.
Duesseldorf. "It's the last attempt, we won't get a fourth shot." This was the sentence spoken by Michael Theim, Chairman of the German Dorint plc., almost fatalistic sounding words following the company general meeting last Friday. By the end of the year, the long ailing hotel group is to be restructured. Another extraordinary general meeting will then be held. In an interview given to hospitalityInside.com, Theim gives inside details on the present state of play.
Vienna. Austria's Rogner Hotels will hire the experienced Hungary tourism expert Dr. János Erdei, who will be working for the Rogner Tourism network in Hungary as of December 1, 2006.
New York. As most liquids and gels have been banned from carry-on luggage, U.S. hotels and other travel companies are stepping in to fill the void with pricy department-store brands.
Beverly Hills. Hilton Hotels Corporation is exploring strategic alternatives for the company's Scandic brand of hotels, including the possible sale of all or part of the business. This explains last week's news by hospitalityInside.com saying that Hilton International will reduce the Scandic brand to Scandinavia again and look for brand alternatives in the rest of Continental Europe. Hilton International also completed the sale of 24 UK based LivingWell health and fitness clubs. Last week, Hilton Hotels Corporation also announced the beginning of a global expansion effort for the Doubletree hotel brand.