Century, Park Plaza Kemayan Join Together
Edited and written by Cherie Hensdill -- HOTELS Magazine, 10/1/2000
- The Giant Awakens
- Century, Park Plaza Kamayan Join Together
- The Price of Life
- Arasi Steps Down, Sweetwood Elevated at Bass Division
- Jurys Doyle Achieves Critical Mass
- Glasgow Hoteliers Set New Standards
- Three Corners Tries To Corner Egypt's Mid-Market
- The Future Is Now
- Love 'Em or Lose 'Em
- Forte's Forte
- Remaking The Hotel of Kings
- Gostelow Report
- World Watch
- Hoteliers
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, ILLINOIS The agreement struck by Cendant Corp., Parsippany, New Jersey, to purchase the brand names and franchise rights of AmeriHost Inn and AmeriHost Inn and Suites from Amerihost Properties, based here, recalls Cendant’s aggressive flag binge of the 1990s when it acquired or launched eight lodging brands.
Mirroring the expansive vision of Chairman Henry Silverman—who less than a decade ago bought the Ramada, Days Inn and Howard Johnson brands as the U.S. hotel industry was cycling downward—Cendant previously purchased the Super 8, Travelodge, Villager and Knights Inn brands and launched its own Wingate Inn flag. Cendant also owns timeshare exchange giant RCI, the Avis car rental agency and a real estate division that includes Century 21 and Coldwell Banker.
Cendant’s juggernaut hit a roadblock in 1997 when alleged fraudulent bookkeeping at a company it was to merge with, CUC International, caused Cendant’s stock price to plummet. Growth of Cendant’s brand portfolio was arrested as it spent most of 1998 and 1999 extricating itself from the scandal. In December 1999 it agreed to pay out a record US$2.8 billion to settle class-action lawsuits filed by its shareholders.
Michael Holtz, Amerihost chairman, president and CEO, says the settlement was a significant catalyst for Cendant getting back to its standard mission of brand management. “We started working on the deal pretty heavily over the summer and put it together fairly quickly,” he says. “Cendant settled its major lawsuit, and Henry is ready to get back into acquisition mode.”
In a statement, Silverman called AmeriHost “an established lodging brand with excellent prospects for future growth.” The executive introduced a fresh term for observers of strategic brand management: the strategic tuck-in acquisition. In the case of AmeriHost, it is being tucked in just under Wingate Inn, which Cendant considers a premium limited-service flag, and above budget brands such as Super 8.
“Through this strategic approach, we see opportunities to enhance revenues and reduce costs by leveraging the synergies within our existing operations,” he says.
In keeping with the Cendant tradition of buying established hotel brands with good market coverage and critical mass, Amerihost Properties manages or franchises 91 properties in 18 states, of which 78 hotels bear the proprietary AmeriHost flag. The brand has a 3-diamond rating from the American Automobile Association.
Holtz calls the deal, for which terms were not disclosed, “a lot different from other deals Cendant has done.” He says Amerihost Properties will remain in Arlington Heights intact, although under a different name, and that he and his executive team will work closely with Cendant on operational issues impacting the brand. “We are the largest franchisees and will be the co-manager of the brand with Cendant,” he says.
The global ambition developed by Cendant for its hotel brands in recent years is still being advanced through master franchise agreements. Most recently, Days Inn inked such an agreement for Italy with developers Bruno Petruzzo and Andrea Cesaretti, principals of Days Master Italia SpA. The company is part of Team BMP, an Argentina-based concern that holds license agreements for Days in Morocco, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The agreement calls for Petruzzo and Cesaretti to open Days Inn properties totalling 500 rooms by 2005. The first hotels are likely to be developed in Milan, Naples and along the Adriatic Coast.
Century, Park Plaza Kemayan Join Together
PARIS Last month’s US$19 million merger between Century International Hotels Ltd., Singapore, and Sydney-based Park Plaza Kemayan Ltd. (PPK) ends the search for a strategic partner by Century CEO Brian Deeson. Rob Stiles, managing director of Sonnenblick-Goldman’s Singapore-based Asia office, says the merger was “a long time in coming” but adds it could be “a great deal for both parties if they can fully leverage their strengths through the integration process.”
The pairing appears to be a classic fit of regional operators carving together a larger foothold. “Century has achieved good penetration of the Southeast Asian markets and left Australia virgin territory,” Stiles says. “Park Plaza has captured Australian market share with little penetration of Southeast Asia.” The resultant portfolio between the two companies will be comprised of 35 hotels across eight countries, including Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Deeson says he will take the title of managing director of PPK, working with CEO Simon Wan to lead the merged entity, which is seeking even more growth.
“We are looking at several other groups in both Australia and Asia that we think would be a good fit with our three brands, Park Plaza, Century and Park Inn,” Deeson says.
Post-transaction, PPK parent Olympus Real Estate, Dallas and Deeson will own the majority of the merged entity.
THE PRICE OF LIFE, wildlife that is, is factoring into hotel room rates in Asia Pacific. Endangered animals are among the benefactors of Bass Hotels & Resorts and the World Wide Fund for Nature’s “Sleep Well, You Just Saved A Life” campaign. Launched in July, the fund-raising effort will help conserve Asia’s endangered animals by adding the equivalent of US$1 to guest folios at any of the 33 participating Inter-Continental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn hotels in the region. When guests check out, they will be asked if they wish to donate to this worthy cause. And if they agree, the US$1 donation will remain on the bill. As of mid-August, 90% of all guests agreed to the donation.
Arasi Steps Down, Sweetwood Elevated At Bass Division
ATLANTA Bass Hotels & Resorts, based here, announced the promotion of John Sweetwood to the role of president, Americas division, replacing Thomas Arasi, who will leave Bass at the end of this month to set up his own company, remaining a consultant to Bass.
Sweetwood had been president of Bass Hotels & Resorts Midscale Hotel Group, North America. He will be combining those responsibilities with those formerly held by Arasi, who oversaw all Bass brands in Latin America and upscale brands in North America.
All told, Sweetwood will now be in charge of Bass’s largest operating region, spanning the Inter-Continental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Staybridge Suites brands.
Jurys Doyle Achieves Critical Mass
DUBLIN Analysts are bullish on Jurys Doyle Hotel Group, based here, saying that among numerous lodging mergers executed during the current market boom, the Jurys acquisition of Doyle Hotel Group last year brings the unified companies to a new level of competition.
With 32 open properties, including 17 in Ireland, and approximately 5,500 rooms, “Jurys is twice the size it was” prior to the Doyle purchase, says Mark Abramson, lodging analyst with Bear Stearns, London. He also believes Jurys Doyle has crossed a crucial threshold in terms of attracting international investors. The merger “puts the company above that threshold in terms of its critical mass.”
A recent gathering of Jurys Doyle general managers featured ambitious announcements from the company’s senior management. Patrick McCann, group chief executive, says the company has achieved full coverage in Ireland and is unlikely to develop further in its homebase. Instead, Jurys Doyle is looking toward Eastern Europe for new markets, specifically in Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. The company also plans expansion along the eastern United States where it already operates three hotels.
Bear Stearns’ Abramson is particularly bullish on the company’s midmarket Jurys Inn product, modeled after Marriott International’s Courtyard brand. “Jurys Inn shows the company is innovating,” he says. “A lot of companies that you see around Europe are putting the same product out: a 3-star or 4-star hotel somewhere near a business center,” whereas an increasing amount of the company’s group sales have been booked into the limited-service Jurys Inn product.
“The return on investment has been huge, the margins are very high, and there is a lot more potential for it to be rolled out further across the U.K.,” he says, as opposed to an excursion across Europe.
Abramson, however, expresses caution about the company’s expansion into London. “It may not be well-timed; everyone is talking about, not if, but when the bubble over London will burst,” he says.
Glasgow Hoteliers Set New Standards
GLASGOW This United Kingdom hot spot is on the verge of becoming the bastion of what’s hip and haute in hospitality. But Glasgow has been there before. Afterall, the city is the birthplace of chic boutique. But the latest Glaswegian trend is about to make chic boutique look like a cookie-cutter concept.
Ken McCulloch, the man who reinvented Scottish hospitality with his high-designed boutique hotel One Devonshire Gardens and the more moderately priced Malmaison brand, is at it again with the launch of a new concept, Columbus. At the same time, two younger Glaswegian hoteliers, John and Bridget Brannan, are following in McCulloch’s footsteps, if not competing with him outright, with their Glasgow debut of Langs.
International Appeal
McCulloch’s Columbus will offer “a new approach to hospitality,” explains the 30-year veteran. He describes the concept as “a chain of international lifestyle hotels” that are “an evolution of me, of all I learned from Malmaison.” And what did McCulloch learn from his previous venture? “That I’m on the right track.”
Although the US$28-million, 180-key Columbus flagship will open in April in Monaco, McCulloch’s residence since he sold Malmaison in 1998, he is planning a US$30-million, 145-room property in his hometown of Glasgow, to open in early 2002. McCulloch describes the look of Columbus as “more European chic” than Malmaison, and room rates will reflect that. But he is quick to point out, “price should not lead style or service.”
With his sites set on New Castle, London, Edinburgh, New York, Dallas and Phoenix, McCulloch hopes to open 50 Columbus’ in major cities in Europe and the United States. He raised US$200 million for the first phase of development and intends to retain controlling interest in the brand. McCulloch also intends to develop multiple brands around Columbus, to help him navigate the lean times.
Inspiration & Aspiration
John and Bridget Brannan’s US$16.5-million Langs hotel concept is being touted as “hotels for a new generation,” the first of which opened this month, roughly 18 months ahead of McCulloch’s Glasgow Columbus. John is a branding specialist, and his wife is a former model who serves as director of her grandfather’s real estate firm, which owns the land on which the first Langs was built.
At Langs, the Brannans want to marry the “friendly, proud and entrepreneurial” personality of Glasgow with a lodging concept to create a “dream hotel” aimed at the dot.commers and young-at-heart business travelers. The hotel itself is “an inspirational as well as aspirational place,” Bridget says, built on functional high design that features 100 rooms and suites spread over five floors, 15 of which are constructed as split-level lofts. With room rates that start around US$100, guests enjoy double showers with body jets, a Sony PlayStation and CD players.
In addition to the unique style and amenities, Langs also hosts three individual branded concepts the Brannans hope to spin off. A California-style restaurant called Las Brisas takes its theme and cuisine from an actual California concept by the same name. B bar promises to be the place to see and be seen. And the pièce de résistance, Oshi, is a 7,000-sq.-ft. Aveda spa and urban retreat that consists of a Japanese relaxation garden, a day spa and tea room.
Although the Brannans’ plans are not as definite as McCulloch’s, their goals are the same: to grow the brands internationally. “I’m looking at America as a tremendous opportunity,” McCulloch says, “especially when you consider how fast Starwood’s W brand is being rolled out.”
Three Corners Tries To Corner Egypt's Mid-Market
CAIRO The Three Corners hotel group is determined to make a name for itself in this burgeoning corner of the globe. After opening its first hotel in Hurghada in 1989, the group has added five more in the region during the past five years and has active plans to add at least five more by 2002. But the small family-owned and -operated lease and management company also has ambitious plans to build The Three Corners brand on the other side of the Atlantic.
Foundation For Success
A native of Belgium, Three Corners Chairman Frans Lambrecht was working in the textile industry in Egypt in 1987 when he and his three children, for whom the company is named, opened Chez Pascal Restaurant in Hurghada, then a small fishing village where the family made their “home away from home.” Today, the family operates three restaurants, a bar, a shopping complex and four hotels in the resort town.
Just last year, the Lambrechts extended their interests beyond Hurghada’s borders to buy into the 183-room Rihana Resort in the esteemed El Gouna project and to take over management of the 150-room Three Corners Amira Hotel in Safaga, both in Egypt. Five other 3- and 4-star properties are either under construction or in management negotiations in Sharm El Sheikh; Cairo; Sharm El Naga, Egypt; and Fujairah, UAE, a yet-to-be-developed tourism destination the Lambrechts hope will go the way of Hurghada.
Most of Lambrecht’s tourism operations in the Middle East fall under the auspices of The Three Corners Joint Stock Holding Company, which also is involved in a food processing plant in Fuijairah and a variety of food, shopping and entertainment facilities throughout Hurghada and El Gouna. And Three Corners is just one arm of a multi-tiered enterprise that consists of four holding companies, all under the umbrella of Homaco N.V., Waregem, Belgium, 51% of which is controlled by the Lambrecht family. No business is owned outright by the family, but the end result of these various equity interests is a self-sustaining tourism infrastructure in the region, a successful model the Lambrechts hope to replicate in the Caribbean.
Courting The Caribbean
In 1997, the Lambrechts ventured into a partnership in Costa Rica, where the group owns interest in and manages the 72-room Bolaños Bay in Guanacaste and the 27-room San Gildar Hotel in San José. Here, the Lambrechts established another holding company, Compania Hotel Y de Turismo Las Tres Esquina’s S.A., and currently are looking for partners in the region to continue expansion. Lambrecht has his sights set on Nicaragua and Margarita Island, Venezuela.
But this isn’t the extent of the family’s tourism interests. Homaco N.V. also includes The Three Corners Hotel Network N.V., a Belgian holding company involved in new hotel acquisition, and Promarco Travel-Network N.V., another Belgian holding company with interest in tour operators and travel agencies in Belgium, Germany, Holland, Canada and Hungary—all of which feed tour groups to Three Corners hotels.
With interests in both tour operators and destination tourism operations, along with a cultivated customer base of divers and watersport enthusiasts that make up 25% of their business, The Three Corners hotels in the Red Sea area are maintaining occupancies as high as 86%. However, the success of such a strategy has yet to be proven in Nicaragua and Venezuela. Perhaps if Three Corners builds it, guests will come.
“We were among the first to build a hotel in Hurghada,” Lambrecht says. “Now, throughout the Red Sea coast, there are more than 500 hotels, all built during the past 15 years.”
NEW YORK The Future is Now was the theme of this year’s Hotel Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Sales & Marketing Summit, held in July in New York. More than 450 delegates from around the world learned how marketing has reached a new plateau in the Internet age.
The show’s highlight was a dynamic keynote speech given by Seth Godin, founder of YoYoDyne.com, former vice president of marketing for Yahoo.com and author of the best-selling book Permission Marketing. He opened the Summit by introducing the revolutionary concepts behind permission marketing—the privilege to market to people who want to be marketed to—as it pertains to Internet marketing.
Putting commercials on-line is not the right way to market a company on the Internet, Godin told attendees. “Permission cuts through the clutter.” Godin advised capturing an audience of those who give you permission to talk to them. And in so doing, keep five points in mind:
Permission costs time and money to acquire;
Permission is revocable and non-transferable—every interaction might be your last so take advantage of it;
Permission doesn’t happen by accident—test it, measure it, and don’t be afraid to get it wrong before you get it right;
Permission must be nurtured;
And permission is selfish—if you’re not talking to someone specifically about him/herself, your message means nothing.
Next year’s HSMAI Summit is slated for June 7-9 in Scottsdale.
LOVE ’EM OR LOSE ’EM is the mantra of Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans’ latest book about employee retention, aptly titled Love ’Em Or Lose ’Em: Getting Good People To Stay (published by Berret-Koehler, October 1999). Although the book is not written specifically for the hospitality industry, its lessons clearly apply to any and all manager-employee situations. The book is organized around 26 quick-read chapters (one for every letter of the English alphabet) focusing on practical how-to retention strategies, real-life employee experiences, and examples of retention practices in use at some forward-thinking companies. But perhaps the most compelling reasons to read the book are found in the press release promoting it:
The cost of replacing key employees averages between 70% and 200% of their annual salaries.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects there will be 151 million jobs by the year 2006, with only 141 million people employed.
A survey of 500,000 employees showed that out of 50 retention factors, pay was the least important. Good bosses was among the top four.
FORTE’S FORTE appears to be its human resources (HR) initiatives. The London-based hotel group was named the overall winner in the U.K.’s HR Excellence Awards 2000, while also winning top honors for “Best Contribution of HR to Overall Business Strategy” and “Excellence in Change Management.” The wins are based on the company’s Commitment to Excellence initiative that was rolled out between November 1998 and February 2000 to 45,000 employees in 250 hotels worldwide. Representing a US$15-million investment, the initiative is having a measurable impact on guest complaint and compliment stats. Complaints are down 15% and 12% among Posthouse and Heritage Hotels guests, respectively, while compliments are up around 28% at both brands. But according to KPMG Consulting, which audits all HR Excellence Awards contestants, the top five reasons Forte earned the recognitions are:
An explicit link between HR practices and business goals;
Measuring the impact of HR practices;
The breadth and quality of HR actions;
Program implementation and ownership;
And effective change management.
PARIS The renovation of Paris’ 183-year-old, architecturally renowned Hôtel Meurice required two years, US$64 million and, at one point, a restoration team that swelled to 500 people. Two of France’s most distinguished architects, Jean Loup Roubert and Nicolas Papamiltiades, directed the renovation. And skilled master artisans trained in handling centuries-old works of art oversaw the scrupulously labor-intensive restoration of the hotel’s elaborately patterned mosaic floors, its friezes and paintings, plaster ceiling decorations and hand-carved moldings, and its cornices, columns, pediments and pilasters. Essentially, the Meurice itself is a restored work of art.
Renovated at a cost of US$400,000 each, the hotels 180 guest quarters were reduced to 160, thereby enlarging the remaining rooms. And a unique look was achieved for each, resulting in 30 different designs encompassing five major decorative styles. The first floor was gutted to create two high-ceilinged presidential suites that face the Tuileries Gardens, both decorated in formal 18th-century Louis XVI style but with distinct personalities. Fabrics in royal blue and gold were used in the suite suitable for hosting visiting governmental dignitaries and delegations. The other, done in softer shades of pink and cream, might appeal more to fine arts and entertainment celebrities or large families.
On the second and third floors, the dominant décor is Academy, a more streamlined and less ornamental style that is well suited to business travelers. On the Castiglione wing of the third floor, however, the design is Empire, an allusion to Napoleon whose castle once stood on the site of the Tuileries Gardens. The fourth and fifth floors are in a Trianon Gardens style, which represents a light expression of Louis XVI and emphasizes floral motifs. And the sixth floor is a dormer floor, intimate and distinctly Parisian in style with rooms decorated to look like Parisian apartments with fabric on the walls.
But perhaps the most spectacular of the guestrooms is the new roof-top royal suite on the seventh floor: La Suite Belle Etoile. The suite’s interior décor is mid-19th century Charles X, which emphasizes wood marquetry in the furnishings with designs that alternate light and precious woods in striking patterns. From the suite’s spacious, 8,830-sq.-ft. terrace (820-sq.-m)—which features a stone floor, wooden garden furniture, and small trees and plants—guests have a 360-degree view of Paris and its famous landmarks. Among them, the Hôtel Meurice is now a reinvigorated grand dame.
MIDDLE EAST
Saudi Arabia has long been the Gulf's leading tourist destination, if religious tourism is taken into account, with 3.5 million tourists recorded by the World Tourism Organization in 1996. Yet leisure tourism was, until recently, confined to domestic markets as foreign leisure visitors were forbidden by law.
Authorities realized Saudis were spending huge sums on overseas holidays—amounting to an estimated US$8.26 billion last year—and if even a fraction of this were spent domestically, the economy would gain significantly.
The year 1998 was a watershed year, when the UK specialist tour operator Bales Worldwide was allowed to bring the first escorted tourist groups to Saudi Arabia.
These discrete pilot projects have been deemed an official success, as reflected by the most recent changes in the Saudi tourist sector. Umrah pilgrims were recently allowed to stay on in the Kingdom for leisure purposes, and this rule will soon be extended to create a tourist visa open to all foreign visitors. In all cases, foreign holiday-makers will be escorted by Saudi agents from start to finish.
A new Foreign Investment Regulation was approved in April, permitting 100% foreign ownership of some businesses and types of property, instead of the 49% limit in force before. It seems highly unlikely the new laws will stand in the way of increased foreign investment in tourism.
One of the key prizes will be Saudi Arabian Airlines, which is earmarked for privatization. The Kingdom's thriving hotel sector—boasting 350 mainly business-style hotels with 31,153 rooms (latest, 1997 figures)—is also likely to prove increasingly attractive to foreign investors.
Yet the Saudi hotel stock betrays the lack of a previous international leisure tourism impetus. By comparison, the freely accessible Gulf city of Dubai alone has 258 hotels with 17,045 rooms. The new investment laws may have given the Saudi hotel sector just the boost it needed.
EUROPE
Three months into EXPO 2000 in Hannover, Germany, visitor forecasts have been revised down from 40 million to 14 million. Instead of DM3.5 billion (US$1.5 billion) in tax revenues, the talk is now of a DM900,000 (US$395,000) deficit.
Original forecasts seemed reasonable, if optimistic, compared with the 42 million that visited Seville in 1992. Hoteliers in and around Hannover anticipated roughly 70,000 overnights daily during the five months of EXPO. In the first half of this year, three new properties with 531 rooms were added to the existing supply of 24 hotels: an Express by Holiday Inn, a Courtyard by Marriott and a Radisson SAS on the EXPO grounds. Many established hotels underwent extensive refurbishment.
In June 2000, EXPO's opening month, hotels monitored in the Arthur Andersen Benchmark survey actually showed a decline in occupancy compared with June 1999, from 53.5% to 46.8%. In July, occupancy increased by 9 points over 1999, to 56.3%. An "EXPO bonus" is clearly reflected in room rates, which more than doubled from DM 125 to DM 325 (US$155 to US$143) in June and from DM 115 to DM 272 (US$151 to US$120) in July.
The question now troubling Hannover hoteliers is how to fill the expanded capacity post-EXPO. The disappointing performance of EXPO is doing little to enhance the city's long-term appeal.
ASIA
Visitor arrivals and occupancy levels in Asia are showing strong gains in 2000. But it’s not all smiles. Despite the noise from national tourism organizations heralding recovery, average room rates in most markets are a disaster. Select markets like Hong Kong and Singapore have seen growth in achieved rates this year, although still far below pre-crisis levels. Seoul has enjoyed a stunning year with both strong occupancy and rate growth. Bangkok continues to try to find its footing, while Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and most of Indochina continue to focus on getting heads in beds—at any cost.
Bass and Accor continue to grow in Australia to the point where the two dominate the budget through the 4-star segment. At the top-end, Starwood has opened stunning new hotels in Sydney and Melbourne (Westin) with a number of W hotels on the way.
There is an Internet distribution battle brewing with few winners expected. The major players from the U.S. are quickly moving into the region, while no less than 40 Asian-based systems are scrambling to assemble Asian content. In addition, a variety of hotel chain consortiums are announcing plans for category killer open-market systems. (Not sure how all this is going to simplify things).
On the real estate investment side of the industry, money continues to circle the region in search of hotel acquisition opportunities. More western capital has been spent looking for and evaluating opportunities than actually investing in bricks and mortar. Without adult teeth, creditors in Indonesia and Thailand have had difficulty bringing pressure to wayward borrowers. Meanwhile, a change in accounting regulations in Japan has led to new dispositions, both in Japan and around the world.
LATIN AMERICA
Major operators and developers, including the Spanish chains and the Berdegue family, the developers of El Cid in Mazatlan, are flocking to the Cancun strip, "Mundo Maya." Recent construction has created a battle zone, as environmentalists are insisting on regulations designed to minimize environmental impact, resulting in project delays.
The 350-room Ritz-Carlton in Cabo del Sol project has been temporarily suspended because of the developer's financial difficulties. Development in the Los Cabos market continues to move up the Pacific Coast to Todos Santos. Several projects have been announced, including Cabo Pacifico, Maravilla, La Costa Royal and Rancho del Cabo Resort & Spa. Lack of capital combined with inexperience in purchasing "ejido" land may cause some of these projects to implode.
While many of the international brands have been active in Brazil in recent years, a notable absentee has been Hilton Hotels Corp. Hilton may soon join the party as discussions are underway with potential local partners to expand their Doubletree, Embassy Suite and Hampton brands in the market. In the Northeast, the recent commitment of several European tour operators to increase service will drive additional resort development activity, as several major projects near Fortaleza and Natal will be announced soon.
- The American Resort Development Association (ARDA), Washington, D.C., appointed Howard C. Nusbaum president and COO...
- Interstate Hotels Corp., Pittsburgh, appointed Paul Giovanini regional director of operations, East coast...
- Preferred Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Chicago, appointed Kathryn Lee director of distribution marketing...
- Richard S. Holtzman announced the formation of his new company, R.A. Holtzman and Associates, Phoenix...
- La Quinta Inns, Dallas, appointed Brent Spaeth and Wayne Goldberg group vice presidents (VP) of operations...
- Lewis N. Fader named general manager (GM) of the Hotel Inter-Continental Chicago and regional VP of operations, Midwest and Canada...
- Meritus Hotels & Resorts appointed Argus Salim GM of the 516-room Hotel Istana Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and area director of Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi...
- Richard Ong appointed GM of the 476-room Merchant Court Hotel, Singapore...
- Jørgen Rathjen appointed GM of the 260-room Radisson SAS Hotel Amman and the 244-room Radisson Resort, Aqaba, Jordan...
- Ferghal Purcell appointed GM of the 64-room Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Club, Ireland...
- Anthony McHale named GM of the 326-room Windsor Court Hotel, an Orient-Express Hotel, New Orleans.
Alan Parker, managing director of the Luton-based Whitbread Hotel Co., which holds the Marriott franchise for the U.K., has written to heads of some 80 colleges and universities throughout the country suggesting joint ventures. If the educational establishment provides land, Whitbread will build and manage a budget hotel, with profits shared. Already Whitbread has signed with Nottingham’s Trent University. Whitbread will spend more than US$11 million building a 158-room Travel Inn, which will open on campus by November 2001. Whitbread also will provide a fitness center for the university.
Roland Nilsson, president and CEO of Scandic Hotels AB, Stockholm, thinks the Whitbread model is admirable. There are already many Scandic hotels in key university centers throughout the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden), but they are not on university-owned land. Nilsson, who sits on the boards of several colleges, says he might certainly consider joint ventures to build on campus. Although Scandic’s main growth will continue to be organic, it also is interested in management contracts in key locations for Scandinavian presence, especially Edinburgh, as well as London and New York.
Expansion in Europe, especially at the mid-market level, is hot. Paul Dermody, CEO of De Vere Group, Warrington UK, has £27 million (US$39.3 million) to spend. He expects by early 2001 to sign his first German hotel, to be run by a local operator, under De Vere’s Village flag. De Vere already has 10 Village hotels in its UK portfolio. The Four Points brand would be ideal for roll-out in northern and eastern Europe, says Norwegian Even Frydenberg, Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ area manager for the Nordic Countries, Russia and Georgia, and general manager of the Luxury Collection Kämp, Helsinki. This would be best achieved by purchasing an existing small group. Frydenberg also wants to open W Hotels in Copenhagen and Stockholm.
From his Zurich base, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts AG, President and CEO Jean Gabriel Pérès wants expansion in Europe to balance strong growth in the Middle East. Francesco Borrello, Beirut-based area manager for Starwood, says the Middle East is still ripe for development, especially in historic tourist locations. In Syria, Starwood already has projects in Aleppo and Sednaya. Borrello is now looking at Deir Ez-Zor, Latakya and Palmyra.
Athens-based cruise and container conglomerate Tourism Enterprises of Missinia SA, TEMES, is developing land-based resorts. Managing Director Achilles Constantakopoulos is working on a gigantic complex at Messinia, in the Peloponnese. Some 4,000 bedrooms are planned, but the first stage will consist of three hotels with 1,200 rooms and two 18-hole golf courses.
Golf leads growth in southern Spain, where visitors have a choice of more than 40 courses within a short drive. So far the Spanish have successfully managed to keep most foreign hotel groups at bay. Lebanese investment is thought to be trying to bring in a Four Seasons development bordering the Mediterranean.
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