Mandarin Oriental adds three more properties - and other international hotel news

Mandarin Oriental adds three more properties
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has announced three new management contracts for luxury hotels to be developed in France, Taiwan and China, with all three properties scheduled to open in 2010. The Mandarin Oriental Paris will be a 150-room property housed in a 1930s art deco building redeveloped by architect Jean Michel Wilmotte. The hotel will include a number of restaurants, cocktail lounges and bars, as well as a spa and fitness centre with indoor swimming pool. The Mandarin Oriental Guangzhou in China will open in 2010 in time for the 16th Asian Games. It will comprise a 340-room hotel with 70 serviced apartments, and will include six dining and cocktail venues as well as a spa, and wellness centre. Finally, the Mandarin Oriental Taipei will form part of a five-acre luxury lifestyle and entertainment complex in the city’s financial district. The 300-room hotel will feature four exceptional restaurants and two bars as well as a spa and wellness and beauty centre.

Fairmont to open Cairo hotel...
Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is to open a new hotel in the Egyptian capital of Cairo this summer. The 235-room Fairmont Heliopolis will include extensive conference facilities as well as spa, an atrium garden and a number of restaurants and bars. The property is located in the central Heliopolis area and 10 minutes from Cairo’s international airport.

... and assumes management of adjacent hotel
Fairmont has also assumed management of an adjacent hotel to the Cairo project. Formally known as the Sheraton Heliopolis, Fairmont will operate this 588-room property under the name Hotel Heliopolis prior to an extensive renovation period, which will include rooms, public areas and the building’s façade. A third phase, to be completed at a later date, will consist of branded residences.

Mövenpick agrees management deal on Singapore's Sentosa
Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts has signed a management agreement for a hotel project on the island of Sentosa close to Singapore with Maxz Universal Development Group. The hotel is scheduled to open at the end of 2008 and is the Swiss company’s first property in Singapore, marking another important step of expansion in Asia. According to the Singapore Tourism Board the country’s tourism sector generated an estimated $8.3b (£4.2b) in tourism receipts in 2006, posting a 14.5% growth compared with 2005. The average occupancy rate for the hotel sector in the city reached 85% in 2006, with the average room rate for 2006 estimated to reach $107 (£55), marking an annual rise of 19.6%.

Rezidor to open first property in Makkah, Saudi-Arabia
The Rezidor Hotel Group is to open its first property in Makkah, Saudi-Arabia. The 256-room Al Diyafa Radisson hotel is scheduled to open in 2010 and will include four restaurants, a separate male and female spa, six meeting rooms and a 1,250sq m ballroom. “This is an important milestone for us to be present in the holiest city in Islam. The new hotel is our seventh project in Saudi-Arabia – the country belongs to our major growth markets, and the whole Middle East is one of our most important regions,” said Rezidor chief executive officer and president Kurt Ritter. Rezidor currently manages four Radisson hotels in Saudi-Arabia.

By Kerstin Kühn

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