Hotel industry and travel news from around the Asia Pacific region: former Milan perfume factory becomes five-star, all-suite hotel, Shiva sells two UK Ramadas, more wellness for Riga and more...
McAleer & Rushe Sell Jurys Inn Portfolio
To release capital for further development and investment, McAleer & Rushe has sold a four-property portfolio of Jurys Inn hotels in four different UK cities to four separate buyers for a total of £80 million. LaSalle Investment Management acquired the 170-room Jurys Inn Exeter for £16.5 million (£97,000 per room); the long-leasehold of the 310-room Jurys Inn Liverpool was purchased by an institutional client of Sladen Capital Partners for £29.25 million (£94,350 per room); the Charities Property Fund bought the 213-room Jurys Inn Derby for £14.85 million (£69,700 per room); and the 264-room Jurys Inn Nottingham was picked up by a private investor for £20 million (£75,760 per room).
Shiva Sells Two UK Ramadas
MCAP Global Finance has acquired two Ramada hotels in the UK from Shiva Hotels for more than the £21.5 million guide price. The 90-room Ramada Birmingham City, in the Mailbox office and up-market retail development in Birmingham city centre, and the 142-room Ramada Manchester Salford Quays will both be managed by Valor Hospitality.
Tryp Atocha Sold
It was reported this week that Spanish real estate firm Saint Croix Holding has sold the Tryp Atocha hotel in Madrid to an undisclosed buyer for €27.6 million (€185,200 per room). The 149-room, six-storey hotel, in the city's Letras district, is currently leased to Meliá Hotels International.
Renovation, Renovation...
London celebrated the return of one of its luxury hotels this week after The Lanesborough officially emerged from its 19-month £60 million makeover and started welcoming guests once more. The 93-room hotel is now being managed by Oetker Collection and marks the group's entry into the UK market. The building was built as a residence for Viscount Lanesborough in 1719; in 1817 it was rebuilt as St George's hospital and it became the Lanesborough hotel in 1990. Another iconic hotel also reopened with a new look this week: Marriott International's 331-room Nile Ritz-Carlton in Cairo, Egypt, which has been completely restored, whilst still retaining many of its original features.
...And More Renovation
Steigenberger Hotel Group plans to renovate and extend the Grandhotel Petersberg in Bonn-Kônigswinter, northwest Germany. The hotel will remain open throughout the phased renewal, which is scheduled to start in 2016 and is expected to be completed by 2017. The hotel's room inventory will grow from 99 to 111 and the work will also include the installation of air conditioning and other modernisations.
Starwood Welcomes a Quartet into its Luxury Collection
Starwood Hotels & Resorts is adding a further four properties to its European Luxury Collection portfolio. The expansion will see the collection grow to more than 100 hotels across the globe by 2015. The new additions to the collection are the recently opened 101-roomAugustine in Prague, which, owned by Augustine Management, was created by converting seven historic buildings including a 13th-century monastery and marks the chain's debut in the Czech Republic; the new-build 84-room Cerasse Resort & Spa, which opened at the beginning of the month as the first Luxury Collection property in the Aegean resort of Bodrum, southwest Turkey, and is owned by A.E.B. Turizm Yatirim Ticaret AS; the new-build, 65-room Falisia Resort & Spa, which is owned by Rilke Srl and is due to open on July 18 as part of the Portopiccolo Sistiana mixed-use beachfront development on Italy's Adriatic coast, as the seventh Luxury Collection hotel in Italy; and the 231-room Grand Hotel River Park in Bratislava, Slovakia, which is also a conversion property and, scheduled to open on 1 August, is owned and will be managed by Best Hotel Properties.
New Opening in Milan Comes up Smelling of Roses
A former perfume factory in Milan, Italy, has been transformed into a five-star, all-suite hotel. TheHotel Magna Pars is in the city's Navigli district, just under nine miles from the Expo 2015 Exhibition Centre. The building history lives on in the hotel's 39 suites, which are inspired by and named after Italian perfume ingredients and scents. The hotel also houses a perfume lab.
Pestana to Expand in Portimão
Portuguese chain Pestana has announced that it plans to open two new hotels in the Portimão area of Portugal's southern Algarve, bringing the group's portfolio in the area to eight properties. First to open in August will be the Alvor South Beach. Pestana spent a year and €8 million converting a 40-year-old abandoned building site into the 79-room hotel. Next up is the Pestana Race Resort, which is expected to open between September and December near to Portimão's international racing circuit. The hotel will have 75 apartments and suites and is owned byParkalgar.
More Wellness for Riga
Latvian hotel group Mogotel has recently opened a new hotel in Riga. The four-star, 174-roomWellton Hotel Riga, in the city's Old Town, is the group's seventh hotel in the capital. A total of €12 million was invested in the property's construction and a Wellton spa centre is due to open at the hotel by the end of the month. As well as its Riga hotels, Mogotel also operates three aparthotels (one in Riga and two in the coastal resort of Jurmala).
Minor Rebrands Five African Hotels as AVANI Properties
Following the formation of its strategic partnership with Sun International in August last year, Thailand-based Minor Hotel Group has rebranded five hotels in southern Africa under its AVANI chain. The 212-room Zambezi Sun in Zambia now calls itself the AVANI Victoria Falls Resort; the 196-room Gaborone Sun in Botswana answers to the AVANI Gaborone Resort & Casino; in Lesotho, the 158-room Lesotho Sun and the 105-room Masero Sun have become the AVANI Lesotho Hotel & Casino and the AVANI Masero Hotel, respectively; lastly, the 173-roomKalahari Sands in Namibia is now the AVANI Windhoek Hotel & Casino.
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