IHG completes 51% buy of Regent: InterContinental Hotels Group has completed its approximately $100-million acquisition of a 51% stake in Regent Hotels & Resorts from Taiwan-based Formosa International Hotels Corporation, according to a news release. The deal was first announced in March.
IHG officials anticipate the luxury brand, which is expected to sit at the top of IHG’s portfolio, to have 40 hotels and approximately 10,000 rooms by 2021. Formosa retains the remaining 49%, though IHG will “have the right to acquire the remaining 49% interest in a phased manner from 2026,” the release states.
AccorHotels completes new €1.2-billion credit facility: AccorHotels has signed an agreement with a consortium of 15 banks in regards to a new €1.2 billion ($1.4 billion) revolving credit facility, the margin of which will be “notably dependent on the group’s performance in terms of environment, social and governance,” according to a news release from the French hotels firm.
The release added the new vehicle has a five-year tenor with two one-year extension options to be exercised in 2019 and 2020 and replaces the undrawn €1.8 billion ($2.1 billion) facility signed in June 2014 that had been reduced to €1.2 billion ($1.4 billion) following the sale of 55% of its AccorInvest portfolio in February.
U.K. Travelodge unveils branded Plus format: Travelodge, one of the two big economy brands in the United Kingdom, along with Premier Inn, has unveiled its new “Plus” format that, according to The Times newspaper, “is designed to meet the needs of the budget traveller who wants that little bit more style and choice.”
The new format will be unveiled initially in six properties, including one at London’s Gatwick Airport and another in the City of London, which when it opens later this month will be the chain’s largest new-build with a total of 395 rooms.
Lodgis buys two Raffles assets in Cambodia: Singapore-based Lodgis Hospitality Holdings, a hospitality vehicle funded by Warburg Pincus and VinaCapital, has bought two Raffles hotels in Cambodia: the 173-room Raffles Hotel Le Royal Phnom Penh and 119-room Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor Siem Reap.
No price tag was announced, and Lodgis said a renovation program would begin for both properties. The news release on the buy added more than 1 million Chinese travelers visited Cambodia in 2017, which represented 45% year-on-year growth.
Scottish hotel gets the OK on “midge” burgers: A Scottish hotel, the 21-room Brander Lodge Hotel & Bistro, has received legal permission to serve up burgers made from highland midges (Culicoides impunctatus), an annoying biting insect that does not carry disease but has long been the scourge of summer hikers, according to newspaper The Scotsman.
Scotsman Willie Neilson is the first guest to have tried one of the midge burgers, the contents of which are collected in four specially constructed midge-collecting machines dotted around the property, whose owner, David Keat, said his idea for the dish came from his cognizance that other insects, such as ants and grasshoppers, are getting more acceptance on menus around the world. Neilson said it “tastes just like a veggie burger.”
Compiled by Terence Baker.