Hotel News Now each week features a news roundup from a different region of the world. This week’s compilation covers Europe.
Supply, bookings point to Europe’s hot markets in 2020
The success stories of the next 12 months in the European hotel industry will be judged by those markets’ upcoming supply and forward booking, according to sources from STR, the parent company of Hotel News Now.
In terms of supply, Alex Robinson, senior manager, industry partners, said London once again is predicted to lead the supply table in 2020 with an estimated pipeline for 8,465 rooms in 76 properties, with Dublin coming in behind it with 3,232 rooms in 27 properties, while Steven Cote, product manager of Forward STAR, said of the four Celtic British cities he analysed, only Dublin has real reason to celebrate, with a string of mega events offsetting that supply, but Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow need to overcome challenges.
EasyHotel names François Bacchetta as new CEO
Super-budget hotel chain EasyHotel has named its new CEO as François Bacchetta, replacing Guy Parsons, who resigned in November. Bacchetta arrives from the EasyGroup’s EasyJet low-fare airline where he was country director for France and Italy.
French REIT Covivio buys €573m of hotels
Covivio, the French real estate investment trust, bought eight hotels in Europe for €573 million ($640 million) from Italian investment firm Värde Partners and leased them all to Spanish hotel firm NH Hotels, writes Hotel News Now’s Terence Baker.
The properties in Czech Republic, France, Hungary and Italy comprise a total of 1,115 rooms and were formerly part of a flag called the Dedica Anthology; before that until April 2017 the assets comprised the portfolio of Italian firm Gruppo Boscolo.
The Netherlands leads hotel sustainability pushes
Many markets and hotels claim impressive environmental and sustainability initiatives, but many consider the most far-reaching changes are happening in The Netherlands, according to HNN contributor Tamara Thiessen.
Sources said leading the charge are the country’s strong track record of innovation and awareness of social responsibilities. The country’s cultural capital, Amsterdam, which currently has a moratorium on building new hotels in certain areas of the city, has a “goal of (being) as green as possible (that) is high on the political agenda,” said Manon Zondervan from tourism agency Amsterdam&Partners.
Accor moves above 3,000 hotels in Europe
French hotel giant Accor has opened its 3,000th hotel in Europe, although it did not say which property it was. At the same time, it also said it was returning the Mondrian brand—of which it owns 50% of SBE—with a hotel in Cannes, France, due to open in 2021.
Deals and developments
- Radisson Hotel Group has opened its 25th property in Turkey, the 139-room Radisson Blu Hotel, Sakarya, in a city in the Marmara region of the country close to the Black Sea.
- London independent Georgian House Hotel is to open in February a ‘cousin,’ the Victorian House Hotel in the lakeside village of Grasmere in England’s Lake District. Formerly the Oak Bank Hotel, it will have 19 rooms, or 20 if one includes a bespoke shepherd’s hut alongside a river.
- Hyatt Hotels Corporation on 10 January opened a dual-branded asset in Manchester that comprises the 116-room Hyatt House Manchester (a brand debut in the United Kingdom) and 212-room Hyatt Regency Manchester.
- German investment firm Union Investment has bought two planned properties in Poland for €86 million ($95.6 million) as the beginning of what it plans will be a €1 billion midscale portfolio across Europe. The two assets are a 259-room Ibis Styles in Kraków and, also from Accor, a 268-room Mercure in Katowice, with both due to open under 25-year leases with Austrian hotel firm UBM Development in 2021.
- Liverpool’s independent Hope Street Hotel, which has 89 rooms, has announced it is to complete its renovation and expansion this spring, which will add 62 rooms and a 40-seat cinema, among other facilities, in the adjacent Grade II-listed building The Royal School for the Blind.
- German asset manager DWS Group via its real-estate fund Europe II has purchased the 171-room Glam Hotel in Milan for an undisclosed price from Italy’s Reale Immobili S.P.A.
- The Grand Hotel Birmingham will reopen with 185 rooms in the summer after a 20-year lapse and a £45-million ($58.6-million) restoration, a collaboration between Starwood Capital Group and owners Hortons’ Estate, whose founder Isaac Horton built the property in the 1879.
- Mandarin Oriental announced it is to open this summer, following a renovation, the 153-room Mandarin Oriental Ritz Madrid, which first was a hotel in 1910 under the direct supervision of hotelier César Ritz.
Compiled by Terence Baker.