Gostelow Report, January 2007

By Mary Gostelow, Contributing Editor -- HOTELS Magazine, 1/1/2007

Send your news via e-mail to Mary Gostelow, Contributing Editor

Aquapura, based in Lisbon, will jump to prominence with the opening of Waraparu in Itacaré, in the Bahia region of Brazil. Designer Anouska Hempel plans an awesome temple exterior appearance. Aquapura also is working on a Douro hotel in Portugal, and now CEO Diogo Vaz Guedes says he is looking elsewhere in Brazil and Portugal, plus the Czech Republic, Italy, Macedonia and Turkey.

In Ireland most of the development seems to have been concentrated on the Republic, the independent, larger part of the Emerald Isle. Now there is a possibility that in Northern Ireland—part of the UK—a Belfast courthouse may be redeveloped. One of the city’s landmark buildings, the old Crumlin Road Courthouse, could be re-opened as a luxury hotel. The developer is Barry Gilligan, who heads COBRA Estates, Belfast. Previously as CEO of Dunloe Ewart Property Holdings, Belfast, Gilligan led the successful development of the Belfast Hilton, which opened in 1998.

Other Irish developers are investing heavily overseas. Derek Quinlan’s Quinlan Private is finalizing the purchase of 47 Marriotts in the UK. Now London’s iconic Battersea Power Station has been sold to Real Estate Oppotunities, Dublin. The principals, Richard Barrett and John Ronan, who at one time were trying to buy the lackluster Millennium Dome, London, say they intend to have at least one hotel in their Battersea Power Station development. When the huge building was still in the hands of its previous owners, Parkview International, London, part of the Hwang family’s Kompass International Limited, registered in Bermuda, Victor Hwang had talked to Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, Hong Kong, who turned it down, and at one time he was in lengthy negotiations with Global Hyatt Corp., Chicago.

PuroGroup SA, Mallorca, Spain, has appointed Alex Bohnekamp as CEO with the brief of growing the organization globally. The Swedish-owned group is looking for developers interested in getting into the expanding sector of lifestyle hotels that appeal to the late-20 to mid-40 age group.

Talking of Spain, Elodie Casola, the Barcelona-based director of tourism & leisure advisory services, part of EuroPraxis Co., says there is a big need for 5-star condo-hotels in major cities there.

It is hard to imagine there is need for any more hotels in Dubai, but projects continue to be announced. One of the latest is a US$345 million development announced by Tatweer, a division of Dubai Holding, that will be themed for Indian and American glamour. Part of the Badawi project, a 1,000 room property will be called the Holly Bolly Hotel and Resort. Who will manage it?

Shanghai Zendai Property, Hong Kong, plans a 450-room hotel as part of the Zendai Himalayas Center it is developing in the Pudong area of Shanghai. The Zendai (Dai-Z from the name of the chairman of Shanghai Zendai Property, Dai Zhikang) Himalayas Center is partly named because the plus that the Himalayas are seen as a symbol of purity. As well as the hotel, the Center also will include a performance hall that will host the opening and closing ceremonies of the Shanghai International Film Festival. Architect Arata Isozaki did the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and the Team Disney building in Orlando.

Will Asia see the next Kohler hotel? The Kohler Co., Kohler, Wisconsin, already owns two properties. Not surprisingly, both the American Club in Kohler and the Old Course Hotel, St. Andrews—Golf Resort & Spa in Scotland, have spectacular bathroom and spa furniture. It is now rumored that the next Kohler property definitely will be somewhere warm, however.