World
Revenue figures show Europe leading global recovery
New figures from consultants Deloitte and Smith Travel Research suggest the global hotel industry is starting to recover. According to the research, Europe was the best-performing region last year, with revenue per available room (revpar) improving by 10%. But the growth was fuelled by the weakness of the dollar against the euro. When the market was measured in euros, revpar rates fell by 8%.
Middle Eastern hotels managed to report a 6% increase in revpar despite continuing troubles in the region, with occupancy levels remaining stable. Hotels across Asia were hit by the outbreak of Sars - at the height of the epidemic they reported single-digit occupancy. Overall revpar for the region fell by just 2% for the year, with average room rates improving by 5%.
Le Méridien forges ahead with openings
Le Méridien opened 15 new hotels across the world last year and already has a further 15 under development to open over the next two years. This year the group, despite its very public problems, will open 10 hotels with a total of 3,420 bedrooms, four more with a combined room count of 1,243 in 2005 and a 680-bedroom hotel at Frankfurt airport in 2006.
Asia Pacific
Ritz-Carlton plans hotel in Tokyo skyscraper
US hotel company Ritz-Carlton has announced plans to open a hotel in Tokyo. The hotel, situated on a former defence agency site in the city, will be part of a mixed-use development and is scheduled to open in 2008. The property will occupy the top nine levels of a skyscraper and will feature 250 bedrooms, a sky lobby, several restaurants and bars and a large health club and spa. The hotel's meeting and banqueting areas will be located on the lower floors of the tower.
Americas
Costa Rican resort is a first for Four Seasons
Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts has opened its first property in Costa Rica. The Canadian group opened the 153-bedroom hotel on the Papagayo Peninsula earlier this month. The Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica also features private timeshare apartments and three restaurants and is set in 30 hectares of tropical dry forest.
Brazil's eighth Holiday Inn opens in S‹o Paulo
InterContinental Hotels Group has opened its eighth Holiday Inn hotel in Brazil. The US$17m (£9.3m) Holiday Inn Select Jaragua in central S‹o Paulo features 542 bedrooms and three floors of conference and meeting space with space for up to 2,800 people. The hotel, the group's 23rd in Latin America, becomes its second-largest Holiday Inn in the region.
Europe
Sol Meli takes Fred and Wilma to the Balearics
Spanish hotel chain Sol Meli is opening two Flintstones-themed hotels in the Balearics this summer. The hotels will be the third and fourth with the cartoon-character theme following an agreement with Warner Brothers early last year. The hotels, the 747-bedroom Sol Antillas Barbados in Majorca and the 450-bedroom Sol Falco in Menorca, will be redesigned in a Flintstones Stone-Age cave style.
Third-party openings hurt Disneyland's own hotels
The opening of several new third-party on-site hotels at Disneyland Paris has hit turnover figures in park operator Euro Disney's hotels division. Revenues in the three months to 31 December 2003 fell by 1% to g102.7m (£70.8m), compared with g103.5m (£71.4m) for the same period in 2002. Overall, the amusement park generated a turnover of g264.1m (£182.3m), up by 1% on 2002.