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

Executives at French hotel firm Accor are feeling bullish as revenue per available room surpassed 2019 levels for the first time since the pandemic began and a packed list of global events take place, some for the first time since 2019.

Sébastien Bazin, Accor’s chairman and CEO, said he expects further “robust” improvements, adding “in probably 80% of the major capital cities of Accor, we have better pricing today than we have ever enjoyed … so let’s make sure it lasts; let’s make sure we provide the highest level of service.”

Hotel operator Cycas Hospitality has secured a 11-hotel management deal from owner InterGlobe, an Indian conglomerate with interests in aviation and hospitality and whose portfolio includes travel-retail firm Travelport, Indian low-cost airline IndiGo and 18 hotels and 3,308 rooms in India operated by Accor’s Ibis family of brands. All 11 hotels included in the deal are located in mainland Europe.

Matt Luscombe, CEO of Amsterdam-based Cycas Hospitality, said he felt “good about the deal as it recognizes and reinforces Cycas’ credentials as a truly pan-European hotel operator for both branded and independent hotels.”

An analysis by HNN shows that salaries for the hotel industry’s top CEOs have rebounded from the worst disruptions seen during the pandemic. The report pulled publicly available information from quarterly earnings reports and Securities and Exchange Commission filings of the top publicly traded hotel firms by stock market value.

CEOs, including from hotel firms such as Accor, IHG Hotels & Resorts and Whitbread PLC, did take cuts in salary during the days of slashed demand and occupancy, but the numbers now show that salaries are returning or bettering pre-COVID-19 figures.

Fattal Hotels & Resorts has agreed to acquire six hotels in Spain from KKR and Dunas Capital in a transaction worth more than 165 million euros ($168 million), with executives at the Israeli firm stating more acquisitions are likely, including assets and even portfolios in the U.S.

The hotels likely are to be rolled into Fattal’s Leonardo Hotels brand. Ronen Nissenbaum, Fattal’s CEO for the United Kingdom, Ireland, Benelux, Spain, Portugal and U.S., said “the latest craze is all-inclusive, and we are there. There also has been a focus by Fattal on Spain. Destinations such as Ibiza and Mallorca, flight destinations, yes, but easy ones, have done incredibly well through the pandemic, perhaps because resorts there are very seasonal.”

On July 13, the U.S. dollar gained parity against the euro for the first time in two decades, with economists citing inflation and the Russian invasion of Ukraine as fundamental to the strengthening of the American currency.

The euro began 2022 worth $1.13, although its absolute peak was in 2008 when each euro was worth $1.60. Analysts said “the sinking value of the euro reflects growing risk aversion on the part of investors, who are pouring into dollars, considered a ‘safe haven’ asset compared with other currencies, amid concerns about inflation, the war in Ukraine and recession fears in numerous countries.” At press time, the euro had gained a little strength, being equal to $1.01811.

On July 7, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his resignation following a string of scandals that plagued his administration. Upon reflection, hoteliers and industry analysts in the U.K. asked for stability to help recovering hotel firms emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kate Nicholls, CEO of advocacy group UKHospitality, said a steady ship was needed “to quickly restore business and consumer confidence and to demonstrate that there is a clear and coherent plan to address the economic storm.”

Russell Kett, chairman of business advisory HVS London, said, “Whether you are a traveler looking to book a holiday or business trip, an airline seeking to fill seats and make routes operate profitability, a hotelier making enough money to employ and pay staff, and to support local suppliers, any uncertainty means you will take longer to make essential decisions, causing businesses to operate less profitably.”

• Spanish state owner Sareb, which was created to administer financially indebted real-estate in the wake of the Great Recession, has secured the sale of a portfolio of 23 hotels, consisting of 1,729 rooms, in the Spanish provinces of Almería, Madrid, Málaga, Murcia and Valencia, for 235.4 million euros.
  
• Dorsett Hospitality International has opened the 74-key Dao By Dorsett West London, in the Shepherds Bush area of the U.K. capital. By the end of this year it plans another Dao property in London, the Dao by Dorsett Hornsey in the former Hornsey Town Hall.
• Nobu Hospitality has opened its first hotel in Greece, the 25-room Nobu Hotel Santorini on the Cyclades’ island of Santorini.
  
• Radisson Hotels & Resorts has opened the 149-room Radisson Blu Hotel, Cluj, the second-largest city in Romania.
  
• IHG Hotels & Resorts opened the 158-room Hotel Indigo Vienna Naschmarkt, the brand’s debut in the country.
  
• Hilton and owner Galatzo Inversiones, S.L., have debuted the 208-room Hilton Mallorca Galatzo on the Balearic island of Mallorca.
  

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