Starwood sell in America
Starwood have sold the Raphael hotel in Chicago to Miami-based developer Crescent Heights. The 172-room site was sold for more than £12m. They have also announced the sale of the Sheraton Chapel Hill hotel for more than £3.5m.The 168-room hotel was sold to the Soleil group, a North Carolina-based developer. The company intends to sell £288m of assets by the end of 2005.
Sunterra buy into Malta
The vacation ownership company Sunterra has acquired the Eden Bay resort in Malta from the Eden Leisure group. The five-star resort includes 46 one- and two-bedroom apartments, and is within the InterContinental Hotel Malta. Facilities include a panoramic pool, a fitness centre and several restaurants. Club Sunterra members will start arriving on 30 July.
GLA hand over the keys at the Hotel Montalembert
GLA Hotels is selling the Hotel Montalembert in Paris, which it launched in 1990. The hotel was purchased by the Spanish group Majestic at the beginning of July. The GLA portfolio includes 17 hotels worldwide, including the Cadogan in London and Bairro Alto Hotel in Lisbon, which opened in May.
Le Meridien sale cleared by EU regulators
Thirty-five hotels owned or leased by Le Meridien in Europe have been given the go ahead to sell to Newco, which is jointly owned by Lehman Brothers Holdings and Starwood Capital Group Global. An investigation by the European Commission showed that the deal would not damage competition in Europe, especially as they face competition from other hotel operators.
Six Italian hotels under new management
Soglia Hotel, the Italian real estate and hotel group, will manage six four-star hotels for Porto Laconia, an Italian company based in Veneto, northern Italy. Three of the hotels are in the Dolomites tourist area, and three are in the Costa Smeralda resort on the island of Sardinia, southern Italy. Soglia take over on 1 September, increasing its management portfolio from seven to 13, with a total of 1,100 rooms.
Conrad goes for gold with couples
The Conrad Bali Resort & Spa has won the Gold category for the best hotel/resort in South East Asia from Holidays for Couples magazine, in their readers’ choice awards. Situated on Bali’s southern coast at Tanjung Benoa, the resort boasts a 350m white beach and 6.8 acres of tropical gardens and 4,000sq metres of lagoons. There are 313 guestrooms and suites.
Conrad to open in the Caribbean for the first time
The Conrad Bimini Bay Resort and Casino will be the first Conrad in the Caribbean when it is completed in 2008. The 250-room hotel will be part of a new seaside village on the island of North Bimini, which is 48 miles east of Miami. The resort will include an 18-hole golf course and 1,590 residential units, spread over 700 acres.
Korea welcomes Hilton and a spot of golf
The first Hilton Resort in Korea will open in 2007. The 120-villa resort includes the country’s first flat terrain 18-hole golf course, built on reclaimed sea front land, and will include four holes that require the ball to be hit across the sea. There will also be 22 private luxury villas.
Four Seasons Sydney on the market
The 531-room Four Seasons Hotel Sydney has been put up for sale and is expected to fetch up to £99m. HVS International has tipped the GPT Group and Singapore-based GIC Real Estate as potential buyers. The current majority owner is the Chicago-based Walton Street Capital, and Toronto-based Four Seasons Hotels owns a minority stake. The hotel was purchased in 1998 for approximately £67m, before undergoing a £26m refurbishment, which saw a reduction in the number of rooms.