Hotel industry and travel news from around the Europe, Middle East & African region: London firm buys Paris’ biggest hotel, Pandox to acquire seven hotels across Europe, Holiday Inn goes supersize in Dubai and more...
Pandox to Acquire Seven Hotels Across Europe from Invesco
Pandox has signed an agreement to purchase a portfolio of seven hotels across Europe (totalling 1,744 rooms) from Invesco Real Estate for €415 million (approximately €238,000 per room). Four of the hotels are in Germany (the 158-room NH Frankfurt Airport, the 129-room NH Collection Hamburg City, the 393-room Radisson Blu Cologne and the 236-room NH Munich Airport, which marks the group's entry into the Munich market). The remaining properties see Pandox expand into new countries with two hotels in Austria (the 499-room NH Vienna Airportand the 140-room NH Salzburg City) and one in the Netherlands (the 189-room Park Hotel Amsterdam). The transaction is expected to close before the end of the year. “The acquisition fulfils all Pandox’s strategic criteria regarding size, location, market position and profitability, as well as contributes to a further diversification of our revenue base,” noted Anders Nissen, Pandox’s chief executive officer. HVS advised Pandox.
London Firm Buys Paris’ Biggest Hotel
London-based investment company Henderson Park has acquired the Le Méridien Etoile in Paris, France, from Mount Kellet Capital Management and Cedar Capital for €365 million (€365,000 per room). This is Henderson’s first purchase, as the platform was only launched in September 2016 by Nick Weber, former Goldman Sachs executive. With 1,025 guest rooms, the hotel, which was built in 1972, is the largest hotel in the French capital; it is close the city’s iconic Arc de Triomphe and has recently emerged from an extensive renovation. Mr Weber commented that the hotel “fits our approach to investments, being an extremely high quality property in a prime location within a top tier or gateway city, but which also offers the opportunity to asset manage further value”.
Cairn Group Purchases Five Hotel Collection Properties
Northeast England-based Cairn Group has purchased five properties within the Hotel Collection portfolio from Lone Star Funds off a guide price of £75 million. The new additions to the Cairn Group's expanding portfolio are the 143-room Redworth Hall, a Jacobean country house in Durham that can trace its history back to 1693; the 154-room Old Ship Hotel on Brighton’s seafront; the 102-room Angel Hotel, which is housed in a landmark Victorian building in Cardiff city centre in Wales; the 170-room Majestic Hotel, set in eight acres of private grounds in the spa town of Harrogate; and the 96-room Stirling Highland Hotel, which was originally built as a school in 1854 in the Scottish city of Stirling. Cairn Group's hotel portfolio has now grown to 31 properties across the UK. Lone Star announced that it would be selling ten regional properties from the Collection in March 2016 and only four remain on the market.
Planning Permission Granted for Qatari Diar’s American Embassy Project in London
Plans to turn the Grade-II listed nine-storey Chancery Building, currently the American embassy, in London into a hotel have been granted permission by Westminster Council. Qatar-based real estate group Qatari Diar is spearheading the £1 billion project to develop a 137-room hotel with five restaurants, a spa, six retail units and a ballroom with capacity for 1,000 guests. Work is expected to start next year when the American diplomatic team relocate to its new-build premises across the River Thames in Battersea. The Chancery Building project is being designed by British architect Sir David Chipperfield.
HVS Supporting GIOHIS 2017
HVS is supporting the 2017 Gulf & Indian Ocean Hotel Investors’ Summit, which will be returning to the Yas Viceroy in Abu Dhabi over 6-7 February 2017. There will be a mix of debates, round tables and presentations, and the focus will be issues of concern to hotel real estate investors. Representing HVS’s Dubai office, Hala Matar Choufany, managing Partner, and Hitesh Gandhi, associate director, will be speaking at the event. HVS London’s chairman, Russell Kett, will also be making an appearance. HVS newsletter readers can get a 10% discount of the registration fee by using the discount code DISCOUNTHVS. For more information or to book your place, visit www.giohis.com.
Hyatt Finds a Second Place in the UK
An affiliate of Hyatt Hotels has signed a franchise agreement with Singapore-based real estate investment trust M&L Hospitality for the second Hyatt Place hotel in the UK and the fifth Hyatt-branded property in the country overall. Following an extensive renovation, the Heathrow Hotel Bath Road at London’s Heathrow Airport will reopen in early 2017 as the Hyatt Place London Heathrow Airport. The 350-room hotel will be managed by Cycas Hospitality. “The opening of this hotel will mark a significant milestone for Hyatt as the Hyatt Place brand continues to expand worldwide and offer more choices to our guests in key gateway cities,” said Peter Norman, Hyatt’s senior vice president, acquisitions and development, for Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Southwest Asia.
A First in Switzerland for Prizotel and Rezidor…
Following Rezidor Hotel Group’s purchase of a 49% stake in prizotel in March, the pair have now announced their first joint hotel project. The 188-room hotel is expected to open near the end of 2019 in Bern, Switzerland. The hotel will be the first prizotel in Switzerland and will be housed in the capital city’s former Swiss Post headquarters, on Viktoriastrasse. This is only the start for prizotel in Switzerland, however, as the group’s chief executive officer, Marco Nussbaum, commented that the German budget chain is “…looking forward to creating a niche offering in other key Swiss cities.”
…And MEININGER Also Plans to Make its Swiss Debut
Hostel/hotel hybrid group MEININGER Hotels has signed an agreement with Losinger Marazzi AG for its first property in Switzerland. The 170-room (600 beds) hotel is scheduled to open in the country’s largest city, Zürich, by the end of 2019. “The city is well connected to the rest of Europe and a popular tourist destination. The hotel will be an exceptional addition to our portfolio," said Peter Kerkar, chief executive officer of Cox & Kings, MEININGER’s owning company. MEININGER currently operates 15 properties (7,025 beds) across ten European cities and has signed contracts for 12 new hotels (7,517 beds).
Hampton by Hilton Expands in Turkey
Hilton Worldwide has opened its second Hampton by Hilton hotel in Istanbul and its seventh across Turkey overall. The 162-room Hampton by Hilton Istanbul Zeytinburnu, which is the first Hilton Worldwide property to be awarded with Platinum LEED Certification, is near to the city centre and the Old Town, and joins the 86-room Hampton by Hilton Istanbul Atakoy.
Holiday Inn Goes Supersize in Dubai
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has signed a management agreement with Al-Futtaim for what will become the largest Holiday Inn property in the UAE. The Holiday Inn Dubai Festival City is due to be completed by the end of 2017 and will be part of the emirate’s Festival City mixed-use waterfront development. The 520-room hotel will be directly connected to the Dubai Festival City Mall and is the fifth property from IHG’s partnership with Al-Futtaim. “This signing is pivotal to IHG’s growth plans in the region as there is growing demand for mid-market hotels in the UAE, especially in Dubai,” said Pascal Gauvin, chief operating officer for India, the Middle East and Africa at IHG. Additionally, the InterContinental Dubai Festival City has recently launched a 5,000 m² arena that can cater for large-scale events with a capacity of up to 5, 000 people.
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