News & Stories
Berlin. The view from the conference room in Berlin's Uhlandstrasse looks on to a hotel construction site - but still, not a site for an Azimut Hotel. All the same, the Russian hotel group has now settled in the centre of Berlin hoping to push forward expansion into Europe using Berlin as its base. The private investor behind the project operates Russia's biggest national hotel group. On the Berlin front, Christian Kettlitz, a former Marriott employee, leads the team. Details on the expansion and strategy of Azimut.
Baden-Baden. In contrast to recent rumours, the Oetker Group from Bielefeld is not selling off its hotels but plans to enlarge its hotel collection in future. The group founded a hotel management company, which is also managed by Frank Marrenbach.
Wiesbaden. On 1st March 2009, the hotel consortium Selektion Deutscher Luxushotels will grow by two new hotels taking the consortium to a total of nine members. The new hotels are the Grand Hotel Heiligendamm on the Baltic Sea and the Capella Hotel Breidenbacher Hof in Duesseldorf.
Reichenschwand/Berlin. Intro Group belonging to the entrepreneur Rudolf Woehrl, who is known from the airline sector, acquires 50 percent of the hotel management company Gold Inn AG located in Berlin in the form of a capital increase. Further hotel projects are planned in collaboration with Woehrl's real estate development company Tetris.
Berlin. Hopag Hotel Property AG, based in Berlin, has sold its 55 percent stake in Juwel Touristik GmbH, Munich, as of 2nd January 2009. Hopag's parent company, Immobilien-Experted AG, names an intention to concentrate on core business, project development of resident and commercial real estate, as the reason for the move.
Brussels. Radisson SAS, Rezidor's first class brand, is changing its name to Radisson Blu. This re-branding marks the end of Radisson’s links with the SAS Group following Rezidor’s IPO back in November 2006.
Dubai. It's official: even Dubai's Jumeirah Group will offer package deals this quarter, "but in the long term, we need to maintain quality," Executive Chairman Gerald Lawless says in an interview with hospitalityInside.com. That's true of everything, he continued, true for rates, for staff and for new hotels. After eleven years in which the group contented itself with its nine hotels in Dubai, London and New York, the plan is now to add 60 new hotels in the space of only three years. Astoundingly, the current financial crisis has left the ambitious project unscathed. "98% of investors and financially strong," the manager stressed. Jumeirah also profits from its position in Dubai Holding. The details.
