Hotel News Now each week features a news roundup from a different region of the world. This week’s compilation covers Europe.

Elie Maalouf, CEO of IHG Hotels & Resorts, said a rebound of hotel performance in Greater China underlined continued improvement across its global estate in the third quarter. Maalouf, who started in the role on July 1, said in his first quarterly earnings presentation that 12 months ago the pandemic still was affecting business in China.

“This is another strong trading performance, the fifth quarter of subsequential improvement, with excellent rebound in Greater China, which, too, has completed its post-pandemic recovery,” he said.

Executives at Whitbread PLC, owner of Premier Inn, are encouraged by strong year-over-year earnings and opportunities to grow, in large part due to a decline in independent hotels in its key market, the United Kingdom.

“This declining independent sector and the challenging financial situation means supply is restricted. We previously said supply would not return to pre-[COVID 19] levels until 2026, but we now, after refreshed [internal] analysis, say that it will not return for at least five years,” CEO Dominic Paul said.

Asset and capital management companies Frogmore and C1 Capital plan to more than double the hotel room count at the existing 404-room Hilton London Olympia.

The plans will create a property with an asset value of almost half a billion pounds sterling.

Having owned the land on which the hotel sits since April 2022 — along with the hotel itself — the joint venture has proposed a new development with a total key count of 905 rooms, according to a news release from C1. The company added the “development will be the largest hotel to be built in London in a decade.”

For the past 10 years, Spain has been a poster child for hotel development and branding opportunities amid high demand from travelers seeking sunshine, resorts, beaches and culture.

Hotel markets outside of Madrid, Barcelona and the Costa del Sol are performing much better. Ana Ivanovic, executive vice president and head of Spain hotels transactions at business advisory JLL pointed to secondary markets such as Valencia, Sevilla, Cádiz and the isle of Menorca.

“There has been a rise in international operators interested in these markets, as long as these investors can see a growth story and an infrastructure story,” she said.

In Europe, the lease model is growing in popularity in Europe's hotel industry and undergoing a few structural changes. The lease model's growing popularity in Europe comes in spite of hotel segments in other parts of the world where leases are viewed as unfavorable.

David Kellett, managing director and head of alternative investments for Europe at Invesco Real Estate, said his firm leans more toward the hybrid lease model, which he added is rare with branded hotel firms.

“The pandemic certainly changed how we structure leases, and hybrid leases suit the type of capital we have,” he said during a leasing, hotel management and franchising webinar hosted by HVS London. “The model comes down to the risk-reward appetite of the capital against the investment choice. We look for good real estate that people are not going to walk away from. With hybrid, you take out a little, but there is still a good percentage of guaranteed rent even if no one walks in the door.”

• Spanish hotel group Barceló Hotel Group and Maltese owner Fortina Investments have opened the 183-room Barceló Fortina Malta in Sliema, Malta.
• Management firm Cycas Hospitality has signed two deals to manage three hotels in Northern Europe. The first deal with owner Vertiq Capital sees it take over operations of Accor’s 237-room 25Hours Hotel Terminal Nord in Paris, and the second deal with owners Annexum and Orange Investment Managers will see it take over operations of a co-branded property in Rotterdam to open in 2024. That will consist of the 215-room Mainport Hotel Rotterdam, Curio Collection by Hilton and 265-room Doubletree by Hilton Rotterdam Center.
• Travelodge has signed a 20-year lease on the 78-room Madrid Coslada Aeropuerto Travelodge, into which it has also invested €1 million ($1.06 million) in a renovation to rebrand it from its previous guise as the NH Villa De Coslada. Adjacent to Madrid’s main international airport, the hotel is the sixth Travelodge in Spain.
• Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has signed its seventh hotel in Georgia. To open in 2026, the 300-room Wyndham Grand Batumi Gonio will also include 775 branded apartments, suites and townhouses.
• Pestana Group has bought for €43 million a hotel it already operates, the 189-room Pestana Vila Sol Vilamoura in Portugal’s Algarve region. Real estate asset manager Santander AM was the seller.
• Rosewood Hotels & Resorts opened the 132- room Rosewood Munich in two grand buildings side by side one another, the former headquarters of the State Bank of Bavaria and the stately home of Palais Neuhaus-Preysing. It is the hotel firm’s seventh European venture.
• Scandic Hotels has opened the first of its new brand Scandic Go in Stockholm with the Scandic Go, Upplandsgatan 4, which has 124 rooms. The second in the brand will also open the Swedish capital but in 2024.
• Ownership firm Lamington Group has opened the 175-room Room2 Belfast in the Northern Ireland capital. It is the brand’s fourth property.
• Aparthotel brand Locke has entered the Berlin market with the 176-room Locke at East Side Gallery. The hotel firm has two other German hotels, both in Munich.
• Hotel firm Harry’s Home has signed a long-term deal with owner Fanny-v-Lehnert Grundstücksgesellschaft to manage the 119-room Wolfgang’s Hotel in Salzburg, Austria. Harry’s already manages hotels in four other major Austrian cities — Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Vienna.
• Whitbread PLC has opened its first all-electric hotel, the 195-room Premier Inn Swindon Town Centre in Swindon, England, which is the prototype for all its new builds from 2026 and which will be fueled by renewables.
• Barceló Hotel Group has debuted in Slovenia with the 148-room Occidental Ljubljana in the Slovene capital, Ljubljana. It is the Spanish firm’s seventh hotel in Eastern Europe, joining those opened in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.
• S Hotels & Resorts has spent £7.5 million on the freehold of the 91-room Mercure Glasgow City Hotel from real estate investment trust Alternative Income.

Hotel News Now provides a Europe, Middle East and Africa newsletter published every other Thursday. To keep up to date with what is happening in the EMEA region, please sign up here.

Read more news on Hotel News Now.