July 2006
STORIES FROM THE BALTIC AND ATLANTIC
Those who, like the England football team, have found the heat of Frankfurt a bit of a struggle might like to visit Steigenberger Hotels, which has its headquarters in the city. Not to enjoy the air conditioning but to be enlightened about the path to true refreshment; for the hotelier knows that no electric fan is the equal of the breeze off the Baltic that is now blowing on the recently opened 121-room Steigenberger Strandhotel Zingst. The temperature is rising in Bremen too, though this is more likely to be due to the heat generated by Atlantic Hotels’ excitement at clinching a deal to build a 136-room, four-star hotel in the city of Lübeck, in northern Germany. A building formerly occupied by the local public health authority will make way for the €15 million hotel, which is due to open in summer 2008.
HOTEL DU VIN CHIEF CHASING DE VERE
The boss of a leading property and hotel company was yesterday said to be favourite to win the race for control of leisure group De Vere.
Richard Balfour-Lynn, who is the chief executive of Hotel du Vin owner Marylebone Warwick Balfour, is thought to have edged ahead of American hotels operator Starwood and the private equity house Permira.
Mr Balfour-Lynn's bid for De Vere - the operator of 19 hotels including The Belfry golf and hotel complex in the West Midlands - is being made through his privately-owned vehicle Alternative Hotels Group.
He is said to have the support of Halifax Bank of Scotland, which worked with Mr Balfour-Lynn and other investors on the pounds 325 million takeover of Rentokil Initial's conference venues business in November.
JEAN GEORGES TO DEVELOP RESTAURANTS CONCEPTS FOR STARWOOD HOTELS AROUND THE GLOBE
Internationally acclaimed chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and his partner Phil Suarez, hospitality leader Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. and leading consumer-focused private equity firm Catterton Partners today announced that they have partnered to create an international, upscale, multi-concept restaurant and licensing business.
The new company will develop, own, operate, manage and license world-class restaurants created by Jean-Georges Vongerichten, including the highly successful Spice Market restaurant located in New York City, plus new to-be-developed multi-unit Jean-Georges restaurant concepts. Acclaimed by critics as "formidably gifted" and a "residential genius," Jean-Georges is one of the world's most celebrated chefs, currently holding an unprecedented total of 20 stars from The New York Times for his seven New York City restaurants. In addition, his Jean-Georges restaurant was recently awarded three coveted Michelin stars.
ANA MAY HAND HOTELS OVER TO INTERCONTINENTAL
British group could buy controlling stake
All Nippon Airways Co. may sell more than half of its hotel business to InterContinental Hotels Group PLC of Britain, ANA sources said Wednesday.
The move to sell a controlling stake in ANA Hotels & Resorts Co. effectively amounts to handing over the group's hotel operations to the British chain, which runs Holiday Inn Hotels and Crowne Plaza Resort Hotels, the sources said.
The tieup would help ANA reduce responsibility for its biggest noncore business, although it plans to keep the exclusive ANA Hotel brand, the sources said.
ANA runs a domestic network of 33 hotels and two overseas.
ANA is looking to form business and capital tieups with InterContinental, and the two are considering converting some of ANA's hotels in Japan into combined brands, such as ANA Crowne Plaza and ANA Holiday Inn, they said.
The two hotel chains expect to profit from the synergistic effects of their brands, since ANA Hotel is a high-profile domestic brand and InterContinental is an internationally recognized name, the sources said.
The ANA group's hotel operations returned to the black on an operating profit basis only in the business year to March 31 after bleeding red ink for four years in a row.
But ANA's top managers now think it would be wiser to improve itself by teaming up with professionals in the hotel industry like InterContinental, in light of the increasingly intense competition from other hotels, including foreign rivals that have set up in Tokyo in recent years, they said.
ANA needs to secure capital to push investments related to its mainline aviation business to cash in on Haneda airport's plan to add a new runway in 2009. The airline is thus considering selling the land its hotels stand on to raise hard currency, they said.
InterContinental wants to bolster its brand recognition on the Japanese market by tying with ANA and also eyes a part in the operations of the its resort hotels in Okinawa, they added.
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JOB OF THE MONTH
(small selection)
all jobs available here
Financial Controller, London UK
General Manager, China
Senior Events Manager, London UK
Director Of Operations, Paris France
General Manager, South UK
Head Pastry Chef, London UK
Financial Controller, China
Restaurant Manager, London UK
Bar Manager, South Of France
Financial Controller, Spain
Head Pastry Chef, Berlin Germany
STAFF MOVEMENTS
Olivier Streiff has joined the Bastide de Saint-Tropez as Chef de Cuisine. He had been the Chef at the Vista Palace in Monte Carlo since 2003.
Andre Kretschmann MHCIMA,has recently joined the Bo Phut Resort & Spa, Samui as General Manager. He previously worked at the TransAsia Hotel, Colombo in the same capacity.
Anne Marie Houston is the new Director of Food and Beverage at the Jumeirah Mina A'Salam & Souk Madinat in Dubai. She had been the Food and Beverage Manager at London's Brown's.
Joel Guillon has joined San Francisco's Left Bank Restaurants as Corporate Chef. Since 1976, he had worked with Mèridien, including no fewer than twenty-two years as Executive Chef at the Hotel Mèridien San Francisco/ANA Hotel/Argent.
Lars Wagner is now the General Manager at the Grand Hotel InterContinental in Paris. He was most recently the opening Resort Manager for the Four Seasons Provence at Terre Blanche and previously the opening Hotel Manager for the Four Seasons Prague. Wagner had originally joined Four Seasons as Director of Food and Beverage at the Ritz-Carlton Chicago.
Eric Guilbert has been appointed Executive Chef at the Oberoi Lombok. He was most recently at the Lido restaurant at the Sofitel Las Dunas in Marbella.
Naiade Resorts has acquired the White Sands Resort & Spa Maldives and has placed Lothar Gross as General Manager. He will remain the General Manager at the Merville Beach Hotel in Mauritius where he has been since 2002. Mahendra Rajkoomar has been promoted at the Merville Beach Hotel from Resident Manager to Acting General Manager to oversee the property during Gross' absence.
Alessandro Cabella has been appointed Hotel Manager by Orient-Express at the Grand Hotel Europe in St. Petersburg. He was most recently the Resident Manager at the Shangri-La Barr al Jissah Resort in Oman, following two years in the same capacity at the One and Only Le Touessrok in Mauritius.
Eric Capdevielle has been named Financial Controller at Meeru Island Resort. Capdevielle was most recently the Group Operations Finance Controller in Mauritius at Group Apavou.
Knut Wylde will be leaving London's Savoy after four years (and six General Managers, with no one currently in place...) to become the Resident Manager at the One and Only Reethi Rah in the Maldives. Prior to joining the Savoy, Wylde spent five years with Rosewood at the Lanesborough, Little Dix Bay, Badrutt's Palace and the Al Faisaliah, prior to focusing on training issues in the Caribbean region.
Laurent Van Hoegaerden has joined the Hotel du Cap Eden Roc as Director of Food and Beverage. He was most recently at the Hotel de Crillon starting as the Director of Food and Beverage and serving the past four years as Hotel Manager.
Suzette Deveau has been appointed Director of Sales at the Four Seasons Shanghai replacing Jason Stinson who has moved on to be the pre-opening Director of Marketing for the Four Seasons Mumbai.
Thomas Egloff has been appointed Director of Operations and Marketing for Swiss-Belhotel International based in Hong Kong. He had previously been the General Manager at the Grand Hotel National AG in Switzerland, the Director of Marketing for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts in Jeddah, and the Director of Marketing at the Hotel Equatorial in Malaysia.
Renaud Bachoffner has been named Director of Sales and Marketing at the Vista Palace in Roquebrune Cap Martin. He has held top Sales and Marketing positions at Dolce Frègate in Bandol,
Antoine Joignant has been promoted to General Manager of the Sheraton Damascus Hotel and Towers. He was most recently the Deputy General Manager at the Sheraton Club des Pins Resorts and Towers in Algiers.
Philippe Guitton has been appointed General Manager of the Lèmuria Resort of Praslin in the Seychelles. He is fresh from opening, as General Manager, the Radisson Tahiti. Guitton was also the General Manager of the Sheraton Moorea in French Polynesia and the Green Cay Villa Hotel in St. Maarten.
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