This month, IHG Hotels & Resorts is celebrating its 50th anniversary of operating in China.
Opened 1975, the 622-room Holiday Inn Golden Mile Hong Kong was IHG's first hotel in the region. It has since been joined by more than 230 hotels in operation or pipeline.
Fifty years ago, of course, Hong Kong was a dramatically different place to what it is today, although I am sure there are still things that have not changed,
It was of course a British crown colony from 1843 until July 1997, so the hotel for almost half of its existence has been—for want of better words—British and for half, and lengthening, Chinese.
According to CoStar data, the hotel has been owned for that whole time by Hong Kong-based Harilela Group, so there is no transactions information available.
I cannot imagine what Hong Kong would have been like five decades ago, and certainly what it would have been like just across the border in China.
When I was last in Hong Kong I visited the Mai Po Bird Reserve, and the northern edge of that reserve ends at a fence that stops one wandering into China.
That was long after the handover of Hong Kong to China.
Back in the United Kingdom, Langham Hotel is celebrating the 160th anniversary of the Langham London.
It is owned by Hong Kong-based Great Eagle Holdings, so there is a nice symmetry to the two celebrations.
The Langham London has long been a notable hotel for it being the first hotel to introduce in London, if not farther afield, to introduce electricity, air conditioning (still not everywhere, or often needed, in the U.K.) and hydraulic elevators.
Langham Hotels & Resorts has its origins in London but as a brand it skews more to the US and Asia, as does Great Eagle’s Langham Hospitality Group, whose largest brand by hotel count is Cordis, again very Asia-centric in its locations.
Happy anniversary to both hotels and their staff.
Yaraka Hotel
Last week, a sad hotel-related story caught my eye, although perhaps that had more to do with the fact that it also is related to ornithology.
A hotelier in Australia, Chris Gimblett, died in a car crash, and as I write his wife Gerry remains in critical condition. They rolled off a road in Yaraka, Queensland.
According to ABC News Australia, the Gimbletts, who bought the four-room Yaraka Hotel in 2014, found a modicum of fame when they banned the flightless bird species, the emu, from its lobby and bar.
Yaraka is more definitely in the Australian Outback.
According to the Yaraka Hotel website, the nearest town, Isisford (population, 218), is 65 miles away. Brisbane, the nearest large city, is 750 miles to the east, and Sydney is a 1,000-mile drive to the southeast.
The emus needed to be barred from the bar due to what the Gimbletts described as “bad behavior,” but I am sure that makes a great talking point and provides extra flavor for those who make the very long journey to the place.
A notice was placed outside to this effect to make the ban official.
Jokes aside, ratites — which is the avian group to which emus belong, along with ostriches, cassowaries and rheas, but also New Zealand kiwis — are large birds and can be intimidating.
Some have sharp claws, and while human deaths due to those claws are extremely rare, they have happened.
Yes, best to keep them out of the bar.
The Yaraka community is providing support to the Gimblett family.
The hotel will continue, no doubt, with Chris’ legacy at its heart, and I see if CoStar can do its part by adding the hotel to the CoStar database.
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