May 2007
Kempinski Hotel Nizhny Novgorod
(Opening 2009)
DESCRIPTION
Kempinski recently signed an agreement with OOO Volga-Invest Ltd. to manage a 250-room hotel in Nizhny Novgorod, which has one of Russia's most progressive economies. The Kempinski-managed property will be Nizhny Novgorod's first five star international luxury hotel. Set in the historic centre of the city, close to the kremlin, the hotel will be built in a contemporary architectural style. The city was founded on the banks of two great rivers, the Volga and the Oka.
LOCATION
The Kempinski Hotel Nizhny Novgorod will be a 30-minute drive from Nizhny Novgorod International Arport and is in an excellent location close to the major business and tourist districts. The airport is served by Lufthansa, Aeroflot, S7, Utair as well as the national airlines of other CIS countries. The city hosts the annual Nizhny Novgorod Trade Fair and the surrounding region is home to automotive, industrial, agricultural and electronics industries. In addition to its appeal for international and national business travellers, drawn by the city's exhibitions and conferences, Nizhny Novgorod's wealth of historical and cultural sites are attracting increasing numbers of leisure travellers. The Gorky Museum, dedicated to one of the city's most famous sons, The Nizhny Novgorod Art Museum, one of the best in Russia, a 16th century kremlin plus many museums, opera and arts festivals are part of the city's cultural scene. It is also an excellent starting point for the famed Voga cruise, taking in sights in Moscow and St. Petersburg before reaching Astrakhan.
InterContinental is largest hotel group in the world
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) remains the largest hotel group in the world by number of rooms for the fourth consecutive year, according to a new report.
The MKG Consulting official 2007 ranking of groups and hotel brands worldwide found that with 3,741 hotels and 556,246 rooms IHG had increased its lead over runner-up Wyndham Worldwide, which despite having more hotels (6,473), only has 543,234 rooms.
Also making it into the top 10 was Marriott in third place, followed by Hilton Hotels Corporation, Accor, Choice, Best Western, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Carlson Hospitality and Global Hyatt, collectively growing the market by 100,000 rooms.
Best Western however, was the top rated hotel brand worldwide, pipping IHG’s Hoilday Inn to the post.
Mandarin Oriental Barcelona opening in 2008
A stylish, 143-room hotel, housed in the re-development of an elegant mid-20th Century building. It is ideally located on Paseo de Gracia, Barcelona’s most prestigious address, at the very centre of the city’s commercial and entertainment district. The property provides easy access to the city’s finest shopping, dining and cultural venues and is a short walk from many major tourist attractions. The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona will offer holistic rejuvenation and relaxation in a tranquil, meditative setting.
Hyatt to expand Eastern European offer
Hyatt Hotels & Resorts plans to expand its Eastern European offering with the opening of five new properties in Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Tajikistan over the next three years. The new hotels will include three Hyatt Regency hotels including a 234-room property in Kiev (Ukraine), a 240-room hotel in Dushanbe (Tajikistan) and a 300-room property in Yekaterinburg (Russia), all scheduled to open between 2007 and 2009. In addition the company plans to launch a 350-room Grand Hyatt hotel in the Russian capital of Moscow in 2008, as well as a 183-room Park Hyatt Tbilisi in Georgia, which is currently under construction.
London revpar rises by 10%
London hotels boosted revenue per available room (revpar) by 10.3% in the week ending 1 April, according to figures from hotel benchmarking service The Bench.
Revpar rose to £108, up from £97.89 during the equivalent week of 2006.
Occupancy increased by 1.1 percentage points to 79.7% while average room rate grew by 8.8% to £135.55, up from £124.56 in the corresponding week of 2006.
Rezidor launches new Radisson Style hotel in Russia
The Rezidor Hotel Group is to launch a new Radisson Style hotel in Russia with the opening of a hotel in Rostov-on-Don towards the end of 2007. Centrally located at the shores of the River Don, the 81-room hotel will feature 56 standard rooms, 16 junior suites, eight suites and one presidential suite, as well as a restaurant and a bar. Adjacent to the hotel site, guests will find the popular Volga-Don river cruises passenger port including attractions such as a river promenade, restaurants, bars and clubs. Rezidor chief executive officer and president Kurt Ritter said: “The Radisson Style hotel will be the first internationally managed property in the city and the project forms part of our strategic development in Russia and the CIS.”
Hotel prices rocket across Europe
Hotel prices across mainland Europe rose by a dramatic 17% last year, but Moscow still tops the list as the world’s most expensive destination, averaging £172 per room, research has revealed.
Prices in Norway, Denmark and Sweden, however, rose fastest, between 27% and 30% due to a strong local economy and events encouraging tourists into the region, according to online booking site Hotels.com
France also saw a whopping 27% annual rise, as Brits buying up French properties contributed to increased demand for hotel availability.
Germany and Spain remain at the bottom of the European league with average room rates of £73 and £76 respectively – almost 25% lower than the average cost of a room in the UK (£98).
In the UK, Bath trumped London’s £107 per room with an average rate of £114, due to the disproportionate number of luxury hotels in the city and high demand fuelled by the long-awaited opening of the Thermae Bath Spa.
Worldwide, New York was the world’s second most expensive city, with prices topping £155 per room, but beyond the Big Apple, US and Central American rates were more reasonable, with rooms available for £64 in Orlando and £67 in Mexico City.
Asia saw prices rise by 12%, although with rooms available in Bangkok for just £44, this was also the cheapest international city. Elsewhere, Dubai hit averages of £124 per room, closely followed by Cancun at £117 and Tokyo at £107.
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Staff Movements
After two successful years at the Kempinski Hotel Shenyang, its General Manager, Mr. Yoland Perras who is a native of the province of Quebec, Canada has been selected as the General Manager of the soon to be opened new Kempinski Hotel Xi’an. Mr. Perras will take his post on April 2nd 2007
Shortly after leaving Peninsula with whom he had a twenty-five-year career (that included twelve years as General Manager of the Peninsula New York) Niklaus Leuenberger takes the helm of the New York Palace. After the death of John Segreti in February 2006, the position had been briefly assumed by former ownerís representative Faith Derbyshire, and then kept vacant for some months.
Seth Lewis has joined the Grand Hotel InterContinental Paris as Director of Food and Beverage. A Lausanne graduate, Lewis originally joined InterContinental in 2004 as Director of Brand Standards and Operational Support. An American (his father was the late Alan Lewis a well-known restaurateur long associated with Joseph Baum) he has lived in London for many years, holding executive positions at the Royal Lancaster, the Grosvenor House, First Great Western Trains and the Sheraton Park Tower.
At Four Seasons, Christoph Schmidinger and Bahram Sepahi have been promoted to Regional Vice President positions. Schmidinger is currently the General Manager at the Four Seasons New York. Sepahi is currently the General Manager at the Four Seasons Golf Club Dubai.
Peter Koehler moves to the soon-to-open InterContinental San Francisco as General Manager. For the past three years, he served as General Manager of Kimptonís Hotel Palomar. Koehler had previously been the General Manager of Villa del Sol, in Mexico and had been the pre-opening General Manager of the not-to-be Mandarin Oriental Mexico City.
Pascal Forotti becomes the General Manager of the InterContinental Toronto, succeeding Yannis Anagnostakis, who will be leaving the company. Forotti had, a year ago, been promoted from Hotel Manager at the InterContinental Buckhead to the same position at the InterContinental Chicago.
André Zotoff has been promoted from Hotel Manager to General Manager at the Fairmont Chicago. He originally joined the hotel in 2001 as Director of Food and Beverage, following sixteen years with InterContinental.
Guy Gateau has joined the Coral Gables Biltmore as Executive Chef. He was most recently the Executive Chef at the Marietta Country Club in Atlanta. At the Biltmore, Gateau takes over from Tim Keating who is now the Executive Chef at Flying Fish at Disneyís Boardwalk Resort in Orlando.
Saul Esquivel has been promoted to Director of Finance at the Four Seasons Punta Mita. He started his Four Seasons career almost ten years ago at the Four Seasons Mexico City as Credit Manager. In 2001, he became Chief Accountant and then was promoted to Assistant Director of Finance in December 2003.
Cornell graduate Nicolas Beliard has joined the Mandarin Oriental Miami as Executive Assistant Manager-Rooms. He had been with Four Seasons since 1997, save for a two-year stint as General Manager of the Chateau de Bagnols. Bèliard’s last position with Four Seasons was that of Director of Rooms at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues in Geneva, a title he also previously held at the Four Seasons Nevis. He had been part of the opening executive team at the Four Seasons George Cinq.
Ludovic Poirier has joined the Alden in Houston as Food and Beverage Director. He was most recently the Director of Operations at Bistro Moderne at the Hotel Derek. In addition, he previously served in various food and beverage managerial positions at the St. Regis Houston and the Four Seasons Houston
Stefan Bernstein moves to France as General Manager of the Hotel de La Citè-Concorde in Lyon. He spent the past three years as Executive Assistant Manager at the Sheraton Heathrow in London, following four years as Rooms Division Manager at the Sheraton Brussels Airport.
Gianni Riatsch is the new General Manager at the Hotel du Louvre Concorde in Paris. He previously served as the General Manager at the Hilton Athens and the London Hilton on Park Lane, following a twenty-year career with Mèridien.
Nicolas Kipper has been named General Manager of the Marriott Moscow Tverskaya. He was the Director of Operations at the Moscow Marriott Grand. Prior to moving to Moscow, he spent fourteen years with Hyatt in Morocco, Poland, Egypt, Turkey, Spain, Yugoslavia and Mexico.
Carlo Stragiotto returns to the Four Seasons Milan as Hotel Manager, replacing Patrizio Cipollini. He began with Four Seasons as the Restaurant Manager of La Veranda restaurant at the opening of the Milan hotel in 1993. He since served as the Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons Istanbul and the Four Seasons Hotel George V before moving to the Four Seasons Sharm El Sheikh where he was most recently the Resort Manager.
Sandeep Walia has been named Hotel Manager at the Ritz-Carlton Moscow due to open this summer. He moves up from the position of Executive Assistant Manager, Food and Beverage at the Ritz-Carlton Sharm El Sheikh.
Alessandro Cresta was named Hotel Manager at the Hotel Martinez in Cannes. He comes from the Boscolo Hotel Carlo IV in Prague, where he was the General Manager. He also held the position of Hotel Manager at the InterContinental Dubai.
Gael Cruchet has transferred to the Ritz-Carlton Tysonís Corner as Executive Chef, taking over from John Coleman who will be the opening Executive Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Dallas. Cruchet comes from the Ritz-Carlton Boston Common where he held the same position for the past six months. Previously, he served as Executive Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Boston and the Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas.
Sèbastien Carré has been promoted to General Manager of the soon-to-open Four Seasons Bora Bora. He has been with the company since 2003, most recently as Hotel Manager at the Four Seasons Provence. He originally joined as Hotel Manager at the Four Seasons Washington D.C. following two years as Director of Operations at the Sofitel Lafayette Square. Carré had already spent five years in French Polynesia in the nineties.
InterContinental has promoted Alexi Hakim to the position of Chief Operating Officer for the United Kingdom and Ireland, replacing John Bamsey who has taken over the Dubai-based role of Chief Operating Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Hakim was the Vice President, Full Service Operations North America, for the company. |
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