California fires: The 250-room Hilton Sonoma Wine Country hotel in Santa Rosa, California, was burned to the ground amid wildfires sweeping through the state’s Sonoma County. More than 1,500 homes and businesses have been destroyed by the fire, which has killed at least 10 people.
Read more in Curbed San Francisco
Holiday Inn in Dubai: IHG signed a management agreement with Kingston Holdings International Limited to develop a Holiday Inn & Suites in Dubai. The 350-room Holiday Inn & Suites Dubai Business Bay is expected to open in 2021 as part of a mixed-use development that includes 400 residences and a small shopping arcade.
Onyx, Yoo partner: Bangkok-based Onyx Hospitality Group and U.K.-based Yoo Hotels & Resorts agreed to managed Yoo Collection and Yoo2 hotels in Asia. The first Yoo hotels, in Phuket and Bali, are scheduled to open in 2019. The Yoo brand was developed by property developer John Hitchcox and designer Philippe Starck.
Marriott expands in Africa: At the Africa Hotel Investment Forum this week in Kigali, Rwanda, Marriott International announced several new hotels on the continent: The Abidjan Marriott Hotel, Côte D’Ivoire, owned by Cote D’Ivoire Investissement and slafted to open in 2021; Sheraton Abidjan and Four Points by Sheraton Abidjan, Côte D’Ivoire, owned by Societe Des Lagunes, to open in 2022; Renaissance Landmark Lagos Hotel and Marriott Executive Apartments, Victoria Island, owned and developed by Landmark Africa Group, to open in 2020; Le Meridien Accra, Ghana, owned by 4-Mac Limited, to open in 2021; Protea Hotel by Marriott Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, projected to open in 2021.