Worldwide briefing

Hyatt shuts for $60m renovation

Chicago’s Hyatt Regency O’Hare hotel has closed for a $60m (£30.4m) refurbishment, improving its facilities catering for leisure travellers and smaller corporate conventions. The 37-year-old property, an atrium hotel designed by Jonathan Portman, is one of the world’s largest convention hotels. It will re-open at the end of January after a structural redesign to accommodate a new lobby-level restaurant bar and lounge area and meeting rooms for small gatherings. The restaurant will feature an open-air exhibition kitchen.

Wyndham to develop 10 new hotels in India

Wyndham Hotel Group has signed an agreement with Royal Orchid Hotels of Bangalore, India, to develop 10 Ramada hotels. These will provide at least 1,000 rooms in the Indian states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtr, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. Royal Orchid plans to invest $100m (£50.8m) to build four-star-quality hotels in the next four years and said India represents a "significant, ongoing opportunity" for hotel development. A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers report indicates the India market will require up to 125,000 new hotel rooms in India during the next five years.

Business looks promising in hotel industry

Business is picking up speed in the hotel industry with revenue per available room (revpar) up by 7.9% across all categories. According to MKG Consulting, growth has been up year round and the business year 2006 should close with the strongest growth in revpar since 2000. The increase in revpar has largely been driven by occupancy rates improving by 1.6 points and a 5.3% growth in average daily rates, with the four-star segment having benefited particularly from strong growth in occupancy rates.

Maltese hotel group plans expansion

Istithmar Hotels of Dubai has acquired €178m (£119m)-worth of shares in International Hotel Investments (IHI), increasing the Malta-based group’s issued capital to over €500m (£335m). IHI said the funds would be allocated entirely to acquisitions of five-star hotels. Malta-listed IHI, founded by Corinthia Group in 2000, operates hotels in Malta, St Petersburg, Budapest and Lisbon. Istithmar Hotels is part of private equity company Isithmar, owned by Dubai World, a Dubai Government-owned company. Concurrently, IHI will acquire the Corinthia Bab Africa Hotel & Commercial Centre in Tripoli and the Corinthia Towers Hotel in Prague from Corinthia Group, in exchange for IHI shares.

By Catherine Bennion-Pedley

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