February 2007
Hilton secures landmark hotel in Moscow, the company first hotel in Russia
Hilton Hotels Corporation (NYSE:HLT) has signed a franchise agreement for a major landmark hotel in Moscow, Russia, representing the company's first hotel in Europe's largest country. The 275-room Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya is currently closed and undergoing a major refurbishment and will re-open in mid-2007. Hilton has signed a long-term franchise agreement with JSC Sadko Hotel as Franchisee and with Interstate Management Services, Inc, as the hotel operator.
The Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya is a landmark building in Moscow. The hotel is one of seven famous 'Stalin' towers that define the Moscow skyline. Originally constructed in 1954, the Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya will retain many of its historic features as part of the current refurbishment.
The operator of the Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya is Interstate Management Services, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Interstate Hotels & Resorts Inc ("Interstate"). Interstate is the largest independent U.S. hotel management company not affiliated with a hotel brand. It operates over 260 hotels in North America and Europe, including approximately 80 hotels under the Hilton Family of Brands.
Wolfgang Neumann, Hilton's Area President for Europe and Africa, explained the significance of the company's first Russian property: "The signing of the Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya marks an important step in the continuing growth of the Hilton's Family of Brands into emerging international markets like Russia. Russia is a strategic growth market for Hilton and I am delighted that our strong relationship with Interstate has now been expanded for the first time outside of North America."
Hilton recently appointed Rob Stoddard as Director of Development for Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States and is about to open its first development office in Moscow.
Shangri-La appoints Didier Le Calvez Executive Vice President, Europe and North America and General Manager, Shangri-La Hotel, Palais d'Iena, Paris
Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, Asia Pacific's leading luxury hotel group, has appointed Didier Le Calvez as executive vice president, Europe and North America and general manager of the Shangri-La Hotel, Palais d'Iena, Paris, opening early 2009. Mr. Le Calvez will report directly to Shangri-La's chief executive officer.
In this newly created, Paris-based position, Mr. Le Calvez will be responsible for leading Shangri-La's impending rapid expansion into the West. He will introduce and maintain Shangri-La's signature standards of Asian-style service excellence not only in Paris, but in new hotels opening over the next three years in London, Vancouver, Chicago, Miami and Las Vegas, and projects soon to be announced in New York, Toronto and other gateway cities. He is charged with positioning these hotels as market leaders in each location.
Didier Le Calvez joins Shangri-La from eight years as vice president and general manager of Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris and a total of 18 years with Four Seasons. His celebrated 30-year hospitality career has included general manager positions at the Pierre and Plaza hotels in New York and The Regent Singapore. Previously, he was vice president food and beverage worldwide for Westin Hotels.
"I have known Didier Le Calvez for 28 years and can say he is uniquely qualified to spearhead our expansion into Europe and North America," said Giovanni Angelini, Shangri-La CEO and managing director. "He is one of the world's great hoteliers -- a visionary strategist who is obsessed with quality."
"He brings not only extensive experience in Europe, the U.S. and Asia, but demonstrated success in introducing a new international luxury brand to Paris, which will be critical in the opening of our own first European hotel there."
Didier Le Calvez was named 2006 Hotelier of the Year at the World Hospitality Awards and New York's Best General manager by the New York Hotel Association in 1995. He was awarded the Chevalier de L'Ordre du Merite by the French government in 2002.
The 110 year-old palais of Prince Roland Bonaparte, grand nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, will open as the 104-room Shangri-La Hotel, Palais d'Iena, Paris in early 2009. All elements will be in place for the hotel to be considered a palace hotel.
Located at 10, avenue d'Iena, near the Trocadero in Paris' prestigious 16th arrondissement, the building offers some of the city's finest views of the River Seine and the Eiffel Tower, with the Champs Elys'es and Arc de Triomphe within walking distance. Facilities will include two restaurants, meeting facilities, library, indoor swimming pool, retail space, a business lounge, and CHI, The Spa at Shangri-La.
Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, Asia Pacific's leading luxury hotel group, currently manages 49 hotels under the five-star Shangri-La and four-star Traders brands, with a rooms inventory of over 23,000. The group has over 40 projects under development in Canada, mainland China, France, India, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Philippines, Qatar, Seychelles, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States. For more information and reservations, please contact a travel professional or access the website at www.shangri-la.com
An Exceptional Year-End For The French Hotel Industry
France's hotels reach the upper range of MKG's forecast in 2006.
As the excellent results in recent months led us to believe, the year 2006 closed with a RevPAR up by 6.9% for the year to end December, in line with the upper range of MKG Consulting's forecasted results.
The year comes to a close at full speed with an increase in the RevPAR by more than 10% in December. In Paris, the year-end holidays were generally better than in 2005: Paris hotels posted nearly no vacancies on December 30 and 31.
RevPAR up by nearly 7% for year to end December
MKG Consulting foresaw it, French hotels posted a RevPAR up by 6.9% for the year to end December. These excellent results constitute the logical result with regard to the continuous progress results have made throughout the year
Takeover rumour boosts Intercontinental hotel firm
Holiday Inn hotels are operated by Intercontinental
Shares in Intercontinental Hotels have risen by more than 5% amid takeover speculation surrounding the firm.
The latest share price rise follows similar gains seen on Friday for the firm, which owns the Holiday Inn brand.
Private equity groups and US-based Sheraton Hotel operator Starwood are thought to be considering a bid for the UK company.
Wednesday's share price gain lifted the market value of Intercontinental Hotels to more than £4.5bn ($8.8bn).
The company was created in 2003 following the demerger of leisure firm Six Continents.
The pubs and restaurant division of Six Continents went on to become Mitchells & Butlers.
Intercontinental, which also operates the Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts brand, owns and manages more than 3,650 hotels across the world.
Shares in Intercontinental closed 2.9% higher at 1,252 pence in London. |
HRCI has 10 years !
We are delighted to inform you that HRCI has celebrated his 10th anniversary in business
Our story began in NYC in March 1997, then Paris , London and soon in Moscow.
We happy to report that during those past 10 years the hospitality industry job market has been extremely busy and growing, especially in Asia and East Europe and we have been able to assist a large number of our clients in finding highly suitable candidates and vice versa.
Thank you for your continued support.
We thrive on your success! |
Job Of The Month
(small selection)
all jobs available here
Area Director Of Finance, Germany
Executive Chef, Maldives
General Manager, Caribbean
Financial Controller, South Russia
EAM, Uzbekistan
Executive Housekeeper, Manchester
Financial Controller, Maldives
Head Chef, Ireland
Financial Controler, Cyprus
Staff Movements
Mark Briskin has joined the New York Helmsley Hotel as General Manager. A long time New Yorker, he has previously been the General Manager at Top of the Rock, The Muse and with Amsterdam Hospitality.
Christophe Bellanca, a former Chef at L’Orangerie in Los Angeles, has moved to New York where he joined Le Cirque as Executive Chef. He replaces Pierre Schaedelin, who had joined Le Cirque (in its previous location) in 1999, following seven years with Alain Ducasse in London and Monaco.
Serge Reinhard has been appointed General Manager of the Novotel Cannes Montfleury. He transfers from the Sofitel Montreal where he was the Director of Operations. He was previously at the Sofitel Royal Casino in Cannes.
Christoph Voegeli will take charge as General Manager at the Hanoi Horison Hotel. He joins from the Sanur Beach Hotel where he was the General Manager.
Philippe Cavory has been named Hotel Manager at the Angsana Resort and Spa and Banyan Tree Hotel Velavaru. He was most recently the Hotel Manager and Marketing Manager at the Banyan Tree Maison Souvannaaphoum.
Charles Otter has been named General Manager at the Park Inn in Russia. His most recent position was Executive Assistant Manager at the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel in St. Petersburg.
Xavier Le Ru has transferred as General Manager to the Concorde Ambassador in Paris where he started his career in 1989. He was most recently the General Manager at the Hotel du Louvre also in Paris.
Jacques Vitu has been named City General Manager for the Radisson SAS Palace and the Radisson SAS Balmoral, both in Spa, Belgium. He was most recently the General Manager at the Hotel Andrassy in Budapest and previously served as Resident Manager at Le Plaza Brussels.
Charles Morris has been promoted to General Manager of the Peninsula Bangkok, taking over from Rainy Chang who is now the General Manager of the Peninsula Hong Kong. For the past two years, Morris had been the Executive Assistant Manager at the Peninsula Manila and had previously worked with Six Senses, Raffles International and Sun International.
Nicolas Villemin has been appointed Director of Sales and Marketing at the Hyatt Regency Almaty, in Kazakhstan. He was most recently based in Dubai at the One&Only Royal Mirage.
Rupa Haria has been appointed Director of Communications for the InterContinental London Park Lane slated for a full opening in March. She comes to the hotel from the agency side where she was handling media relations for Auberge Resorts in the Americas and the One&Only Hotel Saratoga in Havana. Prior to this, she was at the corporate office of One&Only Resorts for almost two years.
Christian Rassinoux has transferred to the Ritz-Carlton Portman in Shanghai as Executive Chef. He has been with the company since 1984, serving twenty-one years as the Executive Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel.
Jean-Pierre Simon is now the General Manager at the Diani Reef Resort and Spa, in Kenya. He just completed two years as General Manager of the Sands Resort in Mauritius. Simon also spent many years in the Middle East, most recently as Hotel Manager at the Al Jazira Hotel in Abu Dhabi, and the Jebel Ali Hotel in Dubai.
Alain Rigazzi has transferred to the Mövenpick Izmir in Turkey as General Manager. He comes from the same position at the Mövenpick Hotel Doha and was previously the General Manager at the Warwick Seattle for five years.
Carl Henderson has been appointed General Manager at Sandy Lane. For the past three years, he was the General Manager of Parrot Cay. Henderson is also a former Managing Director at Frégate Island Private in the Seychelles.
David Chase has been named Hotel Manager at the Ritz-Carlton New York Battery Park replacing Allen Highfield. He was most recently the Area Director of Catering and Conference Services for Ritz-Carlton Hotels of New York and has previously held catering positions at the Ritz-Carlton Boston, the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco and The St. Regis New York.
Alain Duval is moving to Benouville, France as General Manager of Le Manoir d’Hastings and La Pommeraie. He was most recently with Kuwait Royal Holdings as Vice President Food and Beverage. Previously, Duval spent four years with Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong as Group Director of Food and Beverage. From 1973 to 1998, he was with InterContinental.
Marcos Torres-Mueller has been appointed Director of Sales and Marketing for Rocco Forte’s Hotel de Rome in Berlin. He has been with the company since February 2006, having previously been Rocco Forte Hotels’ Director of Outbound Sales for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, based at Villa Kennedy in Frankfurt.
Philippe Caretti has been appointed General Manager at the Hotel Mulia Senayan in Jakarta, taking over from Francois Cnockaert, now the General Manager of the soon-to-open Ritz-Carlton Guanghzou. For the past thirteen years, Lausanne-educated Caretti had held executive level positions with Shangri-La in Manila, Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong.
Brian Connelly has joined the InterContinental Shenzen as General Manager. He spent the past three years with Oakwood Asia Pacific, as Director of Food and Beverage. Previously, he was the General Manager of the Seoul Hilton.
The Crowne Plaza Kobe in Tokyo has appointed Ian Reid General Manager. He was most recently the General Manager of the Westin Guam and was previously the General Manager of the Sheraton Sapporo.
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