Read the latest hotel industry news from around Europe.

As children return to school, United Kingdom leisure “staycation” demand might dip in upcoming weeks, with hoteliers pinning hopes on an increase in corporate business as more and more officer workers return to work and events begin to be planned.

“Across the country, occupancy throughout August and into the early part of September has reached the 60th-percentile range, with more than 70% occupancy achieved on weekends and Saturday nights seeing a premium even above that,” said Thomas Emanuel, director at STR, CoStar’s hotel analytics firm.

Emanuel added that more than 40% of London hotels are achieving higher average daily rates than they did in 2019, with that percentage being more than 80% in regional U.K. markets.

The Room2 hotel brand, which its executives state blends cutting-edge design with aparthotel offerings, has a rich vein of growth as guests look for something different as the world emerges from the pandemic, writes Hotel News Now’s Terence Baker. In December, the brand opened the 86-room, wholly owned Room2 Chiswick in West London. Now, the goal is for the Lamington Group-owned brand to have 1,000 rooms by 2022 and 5,000 rooms by 2030.

Rob Cahn, Room2's head of group operations, said the brand’s “design is more thoughtful, with a history of the space. There is no reception space, but a bar, and there will be classes such as yoga and a cultural programming plan. It appeals to today’s consumer and is more efficient, with less back of house and lots of tech that allows for efficiencies.”

European real estate investor Henderson Park has bought 12 hotels and 2,424 rooms in Hilton-branded full-service properties in the U.K. and Ireland, with the business due to be completed by the end of 2021.

The hotels are in London, Dublin, Edinburgh and Glasgow, among other cities. Nicholas Weber, Henderson Park’s founding partner, said the deal was a rare opportunity “to acquire a large, high-quality portfolio of assets, timed to capitalize on the potential for a near-term return to travel as well as a wider post-pandemic recovery over the years to come.”

AGO Hotels, which emerged with nine former Travelodge (U.K.) hotels following the reorganization of the budget brand via a company voluntary arrangement, has claimed even after its first full quarter that its new model of offering landlords additional upside by paying base rent quarterly in advance and a share of the profit quarterly in arrears already is showing its worth.

Lionel Benjamin, co-founder of the brand, said, “We held our heads above the parapet and delivered on our promise on rent. That will hold us in good stead.” A 10th hotel is in development, while on Oct. 11 it bought the freehold on two additional hotels, which are both located in Wales.

New York City-based investment firm Highgate has added to its portfolio two new London hotels, acquiring for an undisclosed price the 267-room Dorsett City London in a joint venture with Cerberus and agreeing to manage the 130-key Grosvenor House Suites.

Mehdi Khimji, co-founder and co-chairman, Highgate, said the firm would continue to grow organically via single-asset deals, multiple-asset transactions or portfolio acquisitions where it felt it would be able to add value.

• Hyatt Hotels Corporation has opened the 150-room Hyatt Centric Cambridge, its debut Hyatt Centric in the U.K.
  
• Yotel will open its 18th hotel with the rebranding of the 261-room Qbic Hotel Manchester, which has been acquired by London-based investment fund Tristan Capital Partners via its new 500-million-euro ($580 million) hotels fund. The asset will be managed by Hamilton Hotel Partners.
  
• Belfast-based Hastings Hotels has sold the real estate and operations of the Slieve Donard Resort & Spa in Newcastle, Northern Ireland, which it has managed since 1972, for an undisclosed price to Nashville-based Adventurous Journeys Capital Partners. The buyer has more than 40 hotels in the U.S. and U.K. In the Irish Times' coverage of the deal, the property was valued at 40 million pounds sterling ($55.1 million).
• Whitbread PLC has opened its 30th hotel in Germany, the 108-room Premier Inn Passau Weisser Hase, in a building in Passau that dates to 1512. The company has a further 11 German properties in its pipeline.
• IHG Hotels & Resorts and owner HPVA Hotels Group have opened the 250-room Holiday Inn Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
  
• Casa Cook Hotels has announced the Casa Cook Samos, which is to open on the Greek isle of Samos in May 2022.
  
• Quinta Capital Sgr. has bought two hotels from Bain Capital for a combined 70 million euros, including the 132-room Grand Hotel Savoia and 45-room Radisson Residences Savoia Palace, both in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
  
• PPHE Hotel Group has acquired the 144-room Franz Ferdinand Mountain Resort Nassfeld in Nassfeld, Austria, from “K1” Hotelerrichtungs GmbH — part of MID Holding Group — for 112 million Croatian kuna ($17.3 million) via its Pula, Croatia-based subsidiary Arena Hospitality Group.
  
• On Oct. 1, Chinese hotel management company Wanda Hotels & Resorts opened its internationally managed hotel, the 127-room Wanda Vista Istanbul. The asset, on the European section of Turkey’s principal city, also has 320 serviced apartments.
  
• Accor has announced it will open the 116-room Swissôtel Resort Kolasin, Montenegro, in November 2022. Company Ski Resort Kolasin 1600 owns the hotel, which is part of the winter resort K16.
  

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