March 2009
InterContinental boosts its Russian presence
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is increasing its presence in Russia with the opening of two new Holiday Inn hotels in St Petersburg in 2009. The first hotel will be the 80-room Holiday Inn St Petersburg-Moskovsky Prospect situated midway between the city centre and airport. It will include four restaurants, six bars, a swimming pool and 3,000sq m of meeting rooms. The second hotel will be a 129-room property in the tourist area Ligovsky. Restored from an office building, the hotel will include a restaurant, bar, fitness centre and three meeting rooms.
Battle of the hotel brands
Pullman, Andaz and St Regis might sound like boutique names, but in fact the biggest operators in the hotel business own these brands. As more of the large hotel chains show a liking for luxury ventures, Christian Sylt asks if the market is becoming too crowded, and the public confused in the process.
A few years ago finding a luxury hotel was easy. The famous phrase "take me to the Hilton" would bring guests to one or two addresses in town. Not any more. In the past couple of years Hilton and Starwood Capital have launched new luxury brands to sit alongside their existing upscale ranges. Hilton's new Waldorf Astoria collection accompanies the firm's existing Conrad line and Starwood Capital's Baccarat, a new brand of palace-style hotels, joining its Crillon and 1 Hotel and Residences ranges.
At the end of last year French giant Accor gave its own luxury collection a face-lift by adding a new Pullman chain which, despite its distinguished name, sits beneath its existing Sofitel brand. Not content with this, it has renamed particularly atmospheric properties as Sofitel Legends, while boutique-style venues bear the name So by Sofitel.
Restaurant details of Mark Fuller’s Sanctum Soho revealed
Mark Fuller has unveiled details of his forthcoming restaurant at the Sanctum Soho hotel in London, which is set to launch later this month.
Located in the basement of the 30-bedroom boutique hotel on Warwick Street, the No. 20 restaurant will comprise a 60-seat dining room and 20-seat bar offering a classic British menu.
Head chef will be Gavin Austin, who joins from Searcy’s St Pancras Grand and previously worked as a consultant overseeing the food at the Hard Day’s Night hotel in Liverpool.
The menu will be focused on seasonality and provenance with dishes including crab and sweet corn chowder with brown crab toast; lemon sole with spinach and nut butter; and treacle tart and clotted cream. The average spend will be £40.
Hilton to take over Bentley Hotel franchise agreement
Hilton has taken over the franchise agreement on the five-star Bentley Hotel in London, marking the debut of its Waldorf Astoria Collection brand in the UK.
The Bentley, formerly branded by Kempinski, becomes the third European hotel to join the Waldorf Astoria Collection, after the Rome Cavalieri and The Trianon Palace Versailles.
The 64-room property, in south Kensington, will continue to be run by India’s Sanger family.
Simon Vincent, area president for Europe at Hilton, said: “Today marks a very important milestone for Hilton, with the debut of this exciting and historic brand in the United Kingdom, which further underscores our strategy to integrate our successful Hilton family of hotels into key markets and locations.”
Recession is worst since World War II, hoteliers told
A leading economist has told hoteliers gathered at the International Hotel Investment Forum in Berlin (IHIF) that the current recession is the “worst since World War II”.
Roger Bootle, managing director of Capital Economics and advisor to Deloitte, admitted that his gloomy forecast at last year’s IHIF – which was criticised as too pessimistic at the time - was in fact “not pessimistic enough”.
Bootle, who has been dubbed 'Dr Death' for his economic predictions, was no more optimistic about the year to come, describing the recession as the “worst downturn for the global economy since World War II”.
“All along people have failed to get the measure of this downturn,” he told delegates. “It is fully global, and don’t expect China to bail us out. The outlook is grim in China, with its economy predicted to grow by 4% this year, when it needs to grow by 10%.”
Luxury Le Meridien Beach Plaza hotel in Monaco sold for £22.8m
The five-star Le Meridien Beach Plaza hotel in Monaco has been sold by Starman Hotels for an estimated €25m (£22.8m).
The 403-room hotel, located near to the Congress Centre of Monaco, was sold to a private individual in Monaco in a deal handled by property agent Christie & Co.
The hotel is the only one in the Principality with a private beach and also includes the 220-seat L’intempo restaurant and a 120-seat Bar & Lunch restaurant.
Felicity Black-Roberts, director of property for Starman Hotels, said the deal is expected to complete in late spring.
Jeremy Hill, director and head of hotels at Christie & Co, said the deal illustrated that there was still “significant life in the market”. |
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InterContinental Hotels Group has appointed Jim Abrahamson President of its Americas region taking over from Richard Solomons, Interim President of the Americas and Finance Director for the group. Abrahamson joins IHG from Global Hyatt Corporation, where he served as Head of Development, The Americas. He had previously served as President and Chief Operating Officer for Baymont Inns and Woodfield Suites and Senior Vice President for Hilton Hotels.
Jérome Pincepoche has joined the InterContinental Miami as Executive Assistant Manager. For the past two years, he had been the Operations Manager for the Crowne Plaza Kuala Lumpur. He had previously served in food and beverage roles for the Crowne Plaza Dubai and the InterContinental Al Ain.
William Douillet has joined the SLS Beverly Hills as General Manager of the Bazaar. He was previously running the Daniel Boulud Brasserie for Wynn Las Vegas. He had previously served as Assistant General Manager at db Bistro Moderne in New York.
Emmanuel Blanchemanche has joined Starwood Hotels and Resorts at the Hotel Prince de Galles in Paris as Executive Assistant Manager. For the past two years, he had served as Operations Manager at the Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort and Spa. He previously spent six years at the Noga Hilton Cannes working up the ladder to the position of Food and Beverage Manager.
Stefan Bernstein has joined the Sheraton Pelikan Hotel in Hanover as General Manager. He was most recently in France as General Manager of the Hotel de La Cité-Concorde in Lyon. He previously spent three years as Executive Assistant Manager at the Sheraton Heathrow in London, as well as four years as Rooms Division Manager at the Sheraton Brussels Airport.
Michael Gnaegi is the new Hotel Manager for the Hotel Baltschug Kempinski Moscow. He was most recently the Executive Assistant Manager for the Kempinski Suzhou and previously for the Kempinski Shenzhen. In addition, he had previously served as Director of Food and Beverage at the Beach Rotana Hotel and Towers in Abu Dhabi.
Michael Thevenet has joined the Sofitel Brussels Le Louise as Executive Assistant Manager Food and Beverage. He was most recently in Moscow as Food and Beverage Director for the Hotel Marriott Royal Aurora.
Michel Checoury has been appointed as the Group’s Regional Director of Finance for Europe, Middle East & Africa for Mandarin Oriental based in London. He was most recently with the Jumeirah Group in Dubai, where he was the Resort Director of Finance.
Diana Banks has joined Mandarin Oriental as Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Europe, Middle East & Africa, based at the Group’s regional sales office in London. Prior to this position, Banks was with Pegasus Solutions. She had previously held sales and marketing roles at the Grove in Hertfordshire and the Langham in London.
Carlson Hotels Worldwide has appointed Jean-Marc Busato Asia Pacific President and Managing Director based in Singapore. He comes from the Rezidor Hotel Group, where he was Area Vice President and Managing Director for Middle East and Africa. He had previously held various positions with Egyptotel and Mövenpick.
Denis Gruhier has joined the Sunway Resort Hotel and Spa in Malaysia as Group General Manager. For the past year, he had been with Naiade Resorts in Mauritius as Group Operations Manager.
Thomas Norberg has been named Chief Operating Officer for the Al Ghurair Group in the UAE. He was most recently the opening General Manager of the Fairmont Zanzibar. He had previously been with the Fairmont Nairobi and overseen food and beverage for the Ritz-Carlton Sarasota, and the Plaza in New York.
Stéphane Gras has transferred to the Four Seasons Cairo at First Residence as Food and Beverage Director. He has been with the company since 1999, most recently as Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons Prague. Through the years, he had served as Assistant Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons Hualalai, Newport Beach and Austin.
Patrick Beaury has accepted the position of Food and Beverage Director at Four Seasons Cairo at Nile Plaza taking over from Reinhold Nagler. Beaury was most recently at the Four Seasons Toronto where he held the same position.
Marie Béatrice Lallemand has left Barry Sternlicht’s Louvre Hotels to become the President of Kerzner International’s large-scale project in Morocco. Prior to joining Louvre/Concorde Hotels, Lallemand had been the General Manager of the Le Grand Hotel InterContinental in Paris.
At Kempinski, Gianni Van Daalen has been promoted to President, Europe, from General Manager of the Baltschug Kempinski in Moscow. Prior to that, he also served eight years as General Manager of the Hotel Adlon Kempinski in Berlin.
Lausanne graduate Alain Borgers has transferred to the Shangri-La Paris Palais d’Iena as General Manager. He was most recently the General Manager at the Shangri-La Rasa Ria in Malaysia. Borgers had previously held the title of General Manager for the Shangri-La Surabaya, the Edsa Shangri-La Manila, and the Shangri-La Golden Sands. The Shangri-La Paris Palais d’Iena is due to open next year.
Alvaro Rey has transferred to the InterContinental London Park Lane as General Manager, following the departure of Roland Fasel earlier this year. Since 2006, Rey had been the General Manager of the InterContinental Sydney. He started his career with IHG twenty five years ago as Assistant Food and Beverage Manager at the InterContinental Medellín in Colombia. |
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