HVS EMEA Hospitality ENews - Week Ending 20 November 2009

Absolute Share Price Performance Over the Past Week 12-19 November 2009 NH Hoteles - The company traded at €4.04, 6.8% above its volume weighted price of €3.78. | Accor - Accor traded at US$35.92, the second highest premium of 4.1% above its one-month volume weighted price of US$34.50. | Sol Meliá - Shares fell in response to the announcement that the group plans to issue an initial €150 million in five-year convertible bonds to finance its existing business, boost its cash position and extend the average maturity of its debt .

Crimson Hotels Group Acquires a Park Inn | A former WG Mitchell hotel, the Park Inn London, Russell Square (formerly the Bonnington hotel) has been sold by administrators to independently owned Crimson Hotels Group for a reported price of more than £45 million. The 214-room hotel has now become Crimson Hotels Group’s seventh property in the UK. The group, headed by Aly Kassam, plans to rebrand and reposition the hotel.

A New Courtyard For Rome | This week, Marriott International headed to Rome for a spot of landscape gardening. The international hotel chain had set its sights on turning a park into a courtyard. The park in question was the 162-room Hotel Central Park Rome and after Marriott had put down its tools and stepped back from its handiwork the Courtyard by Marriott Rome Central Park was revealed. This is Marriott’s second Courtyard in the Italian capital and its fourth Marriott-branded property in the city.

Sol Meliá's Grand Tour | Spanish hotel chain Sol Meliá held its own grand opening tour this week as it got out its scissors to cut the ribbon for not one but three new hotels under its Meliá brand. The first stop on the tour was the island of Sal in Cape Verde, off the coast of West Africa, where the Meliá Tortuga Beach Resort & Spa and the Meliá Dunas Beach Resort both opened with a combined total of 1,000 hotel rooms and privately owned villas and apartments. Sol Meliá then headed back to Europe as the last stop in its journey was the city of Luxembourg where it opened the 161-room Meliá Luxembourg.

Indigo To Debut In Russia | InterContinental Hotels Group has got together with Russian company Vera to introduce a new shade to the skyline of St Petersburg. This new tint is indigo and it is expected to appear in 2013 when a 120-room Indigo-branded hotel is to open in city. A total of US$20 million is reportedly being invested in the project and it will be Russia’s first Indigo-branded property.

A New Hotel For The Palm Jumeirah | William Blake wrote his poem Auguries of Innocence in the 19th century, but if he were able to visit Dubai today he might just well see a world in a grain of sand. This world of course would be the Palm Jumeirah which started its life with a grain of reclaimed sand from the Gulf. And although this palm may not be able to hold infinity, it certainly has room for IFA Hotels & Resorts’ latest project. The company has recently opened its second hotel condominium ownership property on the Palm: the Fairmont Palm Jumeirah, which has 402 rooms and suites.

Ramada To Open Hotel Number Three In Mecca | Ramada Worldwide formed a trio with Tadawil Al Jezeera Real Estate Company and Al Masah Hotel Management Company to develop its third hotel in the city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The 700-room Ramada Plaza Makkah (Mecca) is expected to open at the beginning of 2011 and will join the 998-room Ramada Makkah and the 142-room Ramada Al Shubaika. This project will bring Ramada’s Saudi Arabian portfolio up to 12.

Travelodge's New Hotel In Newquay | UK-based hotel chain Travelodge travelled to the seaside this week; to the resort town of Newquay on England’s southwest coast, in the county of Cornwall, to be exact. The November weather was a bit chilly for a dip in the Atlantic Ocean so instead Travelodge decided to stay indoors and officially open the 76-room Travelodge Newquay Seafront Hotel.

Kiessling’s Corner | The news from Spain by Gabriele Kiessling, Analyst, HVS Madrid. NH Hoteles has just opened the three-star, newly constructed 100-room NH Campo de Gibraltar in Algeciras. Alexandre Hotels has just reopened the Fira Congress in Barcelona. This four-star hotel previously operated as the Prestige Congress. Alexandre Hotels bought the property for €50 million. Grupo Piñero is to convert the Coral Playa on the island of Majorca and will operate it under its Bahia Principe brand.