Kenya govt plans to dispose of 11 hotels

Investors in East Africa are keen on a fresh opportunity to invest millions of dollars in the privatisation of some of Kenya’s finest hotels in the coming months, as the country seeks to reduce its ballooning domestic debt.

Kenya plans to sell its stake in 11 hotels, among them the Intercontinental and Hilton Hotels — some of Kenya’s most profitable hotels and part of Nairobi’s architectural landmarks — through strategic partnerships or share issues.

The plan is also hoped to help the country spruce up its tourism sector, one of its leading hard currency earner.

Most of the government hotels managed by the Kenya Tourist Development Corporation (KTDC) have been run down over the years and continue to struggle financially, prompting the government to restructure them through sale to investors. 

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InterContinental Hotels to invest $500 mn in Mexico

Mexico City( Hospitality Business News)  –  InterContinental Hotels Group will invest $500 million in Mexico over the next three years, the office of Mexican President Felipe Calderon said.

Calderon met Sunday with IHG's president for the Americas, Jim Abrahamson, who informed him of the decision taken to make this new investment.

The new investment "will translate into a projected 47 hotels with a total of 5,000 rooms," according to information released by the Mexican government.

At the meeting between Calderon and Abrahamson, "they exchanged points of view on the tourism industry and Mexico's great potential to figure among the world's top five tourist destinations, while also discussing the tourism industry's impact on creating jobs and growing the nation's economy."

The Calderon administration has declared 2011 to be the Year of Tourism in Mexico.

During last month's FITUR tourism fair in Madrid, Mexican Tourism Secretary Gloria Guevara said that, despite the violence spread by organized crime, visits to Mexico have increased and "investments have as well."

Citing preliminary figures, she said that more than 22 million people visited Mexico last year, matching the record set in 2008.

Union loses battle against Latham Holiday Inn Express

COLONIE -- The union trying to organize workers at the Holiday Inn Express in Latham has lost another legal battle against the hotel.

Last week, the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C., once again dismissed a host of labor charges that Workers United Local 471 had made against the hotel claiming unfair labor practices.

The decision last week denied an appeal that the union made of a September decision by the NLRB to dismiss the case brought against the hotel by the union.

"Your appeal from the regional director's refusal to issue (a) complaint has been carefully considered," NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon wrote in a Jan. 21 letter. "The appeal is denied."

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New Chinese Name For Holiday Inn Express Hotels

Image via Wikipedia(Hospitality Business News) InterContinental Hotels Group recently announced that Holiday Inn Express, its mid-scale hotel brand, has changed its Chinese name to Zhi Xuan Jia Ri in Greater China.

Commenting on the new name Keith Barr, the managing director of IHG Greater China, stated that the Chinese name change better reflects the needs of their guests who look for fresh, clean and uncomplicated hotels offering comfort, convenience, and good value. He added that they firmly believe this name change can also better represent the brand equity of Holiday Inn Express and IHG is committed to using a variety of our resources to communicate with their key stakeholders.

The group says that Zhi Xuan Jia Ri ( 智选假日 ), which is translated as 'Smart Choice' in English, is in line with the brand essence and values of Holiday Inn Express.

Based on the results of a large scale consumer survey, IHG conducted prior to initiating this name change program: it was decided that the new Chinese name provides a much clearer interpretation of the brand essence and positioning among Chinese guests. According to Barr, since they started changing the Chinese name and signage in November 2010 the brand has seen have seen a positive increase in the hotel business. He added that they were very confident that this name change would also be fully supported by the hotels' owners during the process of changing the hotels' Chinese names.

Holiday Inn Express is expanding quickly into China’s first and second tier cities, with 29 hotels up and running and around 30 more in the development pipeline.

Argentina woman survives 23-storey hotel fall

A young woman has survived after falling from the 23rd floor of a hotel in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires.

Her fall was broken by a taxi, whose driver got out moments before the impact crushed the roof and shattered the windscreen.

Eyewitness said the woman had climbed over a safety barrier and leapt from a restaurant at the top of the Hotel Crown Plaza Panamericano.

She was taken to intensive care for treatment for multiple injuries.
The woman, who has not been named, is reported to be an Argentine in her 20s.

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Prankster's call to cost Omaha hotel thousands

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Managers of an Omaha hotel are not amused by a prankster whose call led to thousands of dollars in damage.
Downtown Holiday Inn officials told Omaha television station WOWT that the call came into the guest's room a little before 11 p.m. Sunday.
The guest was convinced that the call came from Omaha fire officials. The caller said the guest was in danger from a gas leak and should follow instructions. The guest did what he was told: He wet some towels, stuffed them against the door, broke the fire sprinkler head.

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Man found dead in New York InterContinental Hotel

A Portuguese man has been found dead and sexually mutilated in a New York hotel room and his model boyfriend has been detained by police.

Veteran fashion journalist and gay activist Carlos Castro, 65, was found naked with his testicles hacked off in a InterContinental Hotel room at about 7pm on Friday, ABC news reports.

It is believed Castro was castrated with a broken wine glass and had suffered from head trauma caused by a blunt object.

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Fire breaks out in Seattle Crowne Plaza

A fire in a high-rise hotel in downtown Seattle was extinguished quickly Friday, and there were no injuries.
The fire in Crowne Plaza Hotel at 1113 Sixth Avenue began in a machine room. Flames shot from the 34-floor building and were visible from Interstate 5 about 4:30 p.m.

Seattle Fire Department Deputy Chief Earl Sodeman said the fire broke out on the 24th floor in an unoccupied room.

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STRATEGIC HOTELS & RESORTS CLOSES SALE OF THE

(Hospitality Business News)  CHICAGO, IL – December 16, 2010 – Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: BEE) today announced that the company has closed on its disposition of the InterContinental Prague to an investment group led by an affiliate of Westmont Hospitality for a total consideration of approximately €108.0 million. The consideration represents the assignment of the property’s third party debt and the interest rate swap liability related to the third party indebtedness, estimated to be approximately €6.4 million as of November 30, 2010. In addition, as part of the transaction, approximately €2.0 million of restricted cash related to the property was released to the company.
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Woman plunges from downtown Montreal Hotel

Image via WikipediaA 25-year-old woman is dead after falling from the 11th floor of a Holiday Inn Express in downtown Montreal Saturday morning.
The death is being ruled suspicious, said Montreal police Const. Daniel Lacoursiere.
A passerby discovered the woman's body at about 8:50 a.m. in a driveway for the hotel, which is located on Rene Levesque Blvd. and de Bullion St.
The woman was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead.
A 40-year-old man was also taken to hospital to be treated for nervous shock.

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Pebblebrook Puts $52.5M Debt Against Buckhead Hotel

BETHESDA, Md. - Pebblebrook Hotel Trust Inc. has added $52.5 million of debt to its books, taking out a secured loan collateralized by the 422-room Intercontinental Buckhead Hotel in Georgia.

The Maryland-based REIT got a five-year, 4.88 percent fixed-rate loan from Goldman Sachs Commercial Mortgage Capital LP. Loan proceeds will be used for future acquisitions and general purposes.
Pebblebrook acquired the Buckhead hotel in July for $105 million.

Pebblebrook is now shouldering $143.6 million of outstanding debt at a weighted average annual interest rate of 3.78 percent. It has no outstanding balance on its $150 million senior secured credit facility.

Holiday Inn Upgrades Price Out Some Hotel Owners

For Doug Schubert, who has operated a Holiday Inn on the banks of the Fox River here for 34 years, the end will come Dec. 31. The next day, his 146-room hotel will begin operating under Choice Hotels International Inc.'s Clarion brand. He would have liked to stay with Holiday Inn, he says, but he couldn't afford the renovations and upgrades that were demanded by the unit of U.K.-based InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, which he estimated would cost $1.6 million.

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Nashville Indigo files for bankruptcy

The hotel’s property owner, 315 Union Street Holdings LLC., and owner of the hotel business itself, Union Street Plaza Operations, LLC., filed separate Chapter 11 petitions in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Nashville last week, listing total combined debts of about $25.6 million against assets of about $14.1 million, including the $13.1 million value of the real estate.

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Guest sues hotel over surprise, late-night police visit

Did a hotel staffer erroneously lead police to break the door down of the wrong guest?
The question's at the heart of a lawsuit filed recently against InterContinental Hotels Group over a September incident at a Holiday Inn Express in Pembroke, N.C., the St. Claire Record reports.
An Illinois man is suing the hotel giant for about $75,000 after he says police officers were led to his hotel room and broke down his door in search of a female suspect. The alleged incident - in the middle of the night - prompted the man to fear for his life and draw his gun for protection, the paper says.

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IHG plans to build 37 new UK hotels

Intercontinental hotel Group (IHG) plans to open 37 new hotels across the UK, creating 3,000 jobs, as part of a £500m investment. The centrepiece will be an IHG hotel in Westminster, due to open in December 2011, as well as two hotels in the Olympic Village in 2012. There will also be new hotels in Newcastle Upon Tyne, Colchester, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow.

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Holiday Inn to Turn Bars Into Social Hubs

LAS VEGAS—Now that it is wrapping up a $1 billion overhaul of its 3,400 hotels across the globe, Holiday Inn has turned its attention to its next project: redesigning and expanding its hotel bars to make them livelier.
At its annual conference for franchisees in Las Vegas this week, Holiday Inn parent InterContinental Hotels Group PLC unveiled a preliminary concept it calls the "social hub." The plan makes the bar the center of several Holiday Inn services, including the restaurant, game room and business center.

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Las Vegas Sands joins InterContinental

LOS ANGELES - LAS Vegas Sands Corp's Strip resorts, the Venetian and Palazzo, are joining the portfolio of InterContinental Hotels Group, the world's top hotel company by number of rooms.
Under the 10-year licensing deal, the Las Vegas hotels, with more than 7,000 luxury rooms, will gain access to IHG's global operating system, sales force and Priority Club loyalty program, which has 52 million members.

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InterContinental Hotels Group PLC Announces Third Quarter Americas RevPAR Growth at annual conference for hotel owners

InterContinental Hotels Group's ("IHG") annual conference for hotel owners in the Americas region commences this week. Details of revenue per available room (RevPAR) for IHG's brands in the Americas for July, August and September 2010, for the third quarter 2010 and for the nine month period to 30 September 2010 will be disclosed at this conference and are tabled below.
RevPAR growth in the Americas region accelerated through the third quarter to 6.7% driven by occupancy growth of 3.8 percentage points and rate growth of 0.8% as business travellers continued to return in greater numbers. Rate growth improved through the quarter.
Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express RevPAR growth accelerated in the third quarter driven by the success of the relaunched hotels which are strongly outperforming those hotels that have not completed the relaunch. Third quarter RevPAR growth at hotels which completed the relaunch grew by 7.9% at Holiday Inn and 6.8% at Holiday Inn Express. In the US, these hotels now sit at a 36% and 20% RevPAR premium to their respective industry segments.
IHG's full third quarter results will be announced at 7am UK time on 9 November when further commentary will be provided.
 

Americas Comparable RevPAR Growth (constant currency)	July 2010	August 2010	Sept 2010	Third Quarter 2010	Nine months to 30 Sept 2010
InterContinental	13.8%	9.7%	11.7%	11.8%	8.1%
Crowne Plaza	5.1%	5.4%	6.0%	5.5%	4.6%
Holiday Inn	6.1%	5.6%	7.3%	6.3%	3.0%
- relaunched (557 hotels)				7.9%	4.7%
- not relaunched (240 hotels)				2.2%	(1.1)%
Holiday Inn Express	6.3%	6.7%	6.3%	6.4%	3.3%
- relaunched (1,347 hotels)				6.8%	3.8%
- not relaunched (244 hotels)				3.9%	0.0%
Staybridge Suites	4.7%	9.7%	9.9%	8.0%	6.3%
Candlewood Suites	4.6%	6.5%	7.6%	6.2%	1.8%
Hotel Indigo	9.2%	10.7%	15.7%	11.8%	9.6%
Total Americas	6.4%	6.5%	7.3%	6.7%	3.9%

Hotels sprout around New York City

Hotels are popping up everywhere in Brooklyn and the other boroughs outside Manhattan, some in very strange places.
The hotel wave is coming more than a decade after the 1998 opening of the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn's first new luxury hotel in a half century. Now dozens of new lodgings are coming to the borough, as well as to Queens, Staten Island and the Bronx.

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IHG and Hong Leong Group set to open hotels in Taiwan

Britain’s Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) and Singapore’s Hong Leong Group (豐隆集團) have announced plans to invest in Taiwan’s hotel industry.
IHG last week signed deals to open hotels in Xiamen, China, Hong Kong and Taipei, adding more than 700 rooms to its Asia-Pacific portfolio.

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