Gostelow Report

Mary Gostelow, Contributing Editor -- Hotels, 5/1/2008

Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts Managing Director Meinhard Huck is delighted with his brand's expansion to such key global destinations as the Estonia capital, Tallin, but he badly needs more presence in the United States, where Swissôtel Chicago is currently the only property.

Associated Ventures, Los Angeles, is doing a 300-room resort along Napa Valley's Silverado Trail in California. Led by co-directors Michael Mayer and Melanie Pennell-Mayer, the latter is certainly looking far afield. Kempinski Hotels, Geneva, has confirmed that Pennell-Mayer is exploring potential projects with its brand in Islamabad, Nassau, Tel Aviv, Vienna and the Armenian capital, Yerevan.

Kempinski is, indeed, expanding so fast that some wonder when it will exceed the 111-property cap imposed by its Chairman and CEO Reto Wittwer (since he is determined that the Kempinski portfolio will not be larger than the age of the company founded in 1897. Could this mean that in the future some properties may leave the brand?). Recent additions include management of some of Dubai WorldAfrica's purchases in Africa, which include a 150-key property to be built at Kigali Golf Course and Club and, also in Rwanda, game lodges in the proximity of gorilla habitats. In the Grande Comore islands, north of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, Kempinski will operate the Galawa Beach that Dubai World Africa has purchased.

Morocco is attracting hotel speculators from many areas. Johnson Capital, Irvine, California, has at least four projects in the North African country and it is looking for suitable brands. Johnson Capital was founded by its current president, Guy Johnson.

Long-time InterContinental veteran Marcello Pigozzo, now based in Verona, Italy, is working with his son Marcello Malik Pigozzo at MPG Italia Scl, headquartered in Milan. With its partner Cabot Square Capital, London, MPG Italia Scl will launch with a conversion of Villa Salviatino, above Fiesole, Italy. Next, Pigozzo says, he is looking for Milan, plus Palermo, Sicily, Paris, Prague and St. Petersburg.

MaMaison Hotels is already in Russia, managing Moscow's long-stay MaMaison Pokrovka Suite Hotel developed by local real estate giant Sistema-Hals OJSC. Based in Prague, MaMaison evolved from Orco Hotels, named for its holding company, and that, in turn, was successor to Andrassy Hotels. MaMaison Hotels is led by COO Han Brouwers, who plans to grow the brand to at least 11 hotels, all with under 100 keys.

The university town of Cambridge, England, is not over-endowed with hotels. CBRE Hotels may rectify the lack of supply as the company's London office has been asked to secure an operator for a full-service 150-room property that Ashwell Plc plans to put on a 24-acre (10-ha) mixed-development site it owns in the city center.

London-based aAIM is headed by its Chairman, Mike Kerr, and its CEO Anurag Chaturvedi, who came from CBRE Hotels. Working in partnership with the Bank of Scotland, aAIM's Symmetry Fund made news last month for its purchase-and-leaseback of six landmark hotels in the UK. The properties include the historic George Hotel, Edinburgh, and The Russell, London. Now aAIM has a US$2 billion property fund to invest in India. It is specifically targeting a mixed-use development near Mumbai, and it is also interested in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. It also is working on a logistics and IT park, with a budget hotel, at Nagpur, Maharashtra (known as the “Orange City,” as it is a major trading center for that fruit).

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide now has 21 W Hotels open (the Alanta-Midtown opens end of May). So far only one of these is a resort. Oliver Bonke, Singapore-based vice president of sales and marketing for Asia Pacific, says the 78-room W Retreat & Spa - Maldives achieved total room spend of US$2,000 a day during February. The W lifestyle concept has obviously adapted from urban environment to a solitary island. W Resorts already are under construction at Koh Samui, Thailand and on Bali, and he feels there is great potential for more.

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