Read the latest hotel industry news from around Europe.

Hotel transaction volumes in the United Kingdom are nowhere close to the level they were pre-COVID 19, and that will likely be the case in the short to medium term due to the reluctance of traditional banks to provide debt, writes Hotel News Now’s Terence Baker.

Also complicating the deals landscape are inflation, the cost of funds and the conflicting views between sellers and buyers as to the value of hotels. Sarah Green, director at HotelFinance, said “the finance is there, but how does it stack up properly? That’s the question.”

Gérard Pélisson, the co-founder of Accor, died on March 6 at the age of 91. In a statement, Accor said he “was an iconic pioneer who … inspired a modern approach to French hospitality at a time when it was poised for fresh ideas.”

Pélisson opened the firm’s first hotel, a Novotel in Lille, France, in 1967. Accor today has 45 brands, 5,445 hotels and 802,269 rooms. CEO Sébastien Bazin said of Pélisson, he “was an entrepreneur par excellence. A true revolutionary of our industry.”

Wenaasgruppen, a Norwegian family office based in Måndalen, has sold its 10 hotels in Russia and thus exited the country, although no reason was given for doing so. The buyer, Cosmos Hotel Group, acquired the portfolio for 200 million euros ($211 million).

Nine of the hotels are managed by Radisson Hotels. Russian news agency Interfax said the deal includes “a voluntary contribution to the Russian budget, which was one of the conditions for securing permission for the exit from the Russian authorities.” 

Chinese hotel firm H World Group, formerly Huazhu, no longer is a shareholder in French hotel giant Accor after it sold its remaining 3.7% stake for an undisclosed sum. Its management said the sale was to allow the firm to concentrate on core activities.

Accor sold its final shareholding in H World, 3% of the company, in February, saying the move “will help it further simplify its balance sheet and finalize the value creation of the investment initiated in 2016.” Both companies will continue their development plans together.

Coinciding with the annual real-estate investment conference, MIPIM, which this year saw a record 23,000 attendees, the 332-room Carlton Cannes, A Regent Hotel, finished a two-year renovation and reopened on March 13.

Its operator, IHG Hotels & Resorts said work to the Belle Epoque hotel on Cannes’ Boulevard de la Croisette, on the Mediterranean, has included “750 craftspeople and artisans who have worked to breathe new life into the hotel.”

• The Ruby Group is to debut in France with a 237-room hotel in Marseille, which is a conversion of an office and in collaboration with owner BNP Paribas. The firm also is to open a 165-room hotel in Rome with owner ECE Work & Live. Both hotels are due to open in 2025.
  
• Swedish hotel owner-operator Pandox has bought the 221-room Best Western Fridhelmsplan in Stockholm for 400 million Swedish krona ($38.33 million), a price which includes renovation cash and an expected stabilized yield of approximately 7%.
  
• Meininger has opened its 34th hotel, the Meininger Venezia Mestre, in the mainland Italian town of Mestre opposite Venice, with 112 rooms (both guest rooms and dormitory-style rooms).
  
• Radisson Hotel Group is to open the 238-room Radisson Blu Resort & Conference Center, Ostróda Mazury, which will sit beside on Lake Drwęca in Poland’s Masurian Lake District and will be Radisson’s 18th hotel in the country.
  
• IHG Hotels & Resorts and owner Lancaster Landmark Hotel Co. will open the 252-room Hotel Indigo London K West Shepherds Bush in West London in spring 2025 — the sixth of the brand in the British capital.
  
• Owner Project Immobilien Group and operator Deutsche Hospitality will open the 198-room Zleep Hotel Berlin, the brand’s debut in the German capital, in the first quarter of 2024.
  
• Singapore-based hotel firm Banyan Tree has agreed to make its Spanish debut with the opening in 2026 of the 90-room Angsana Real de la Quinta Benahavis Marbella, close to Marbella.
  
• In March, EasyHotels will open the 180-room Paris Nord Aubervilliers in a northern neighborhood of Paris — the firm’s third French hotel, with the others being in Nice and the capital’s Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport.
  
• Aimbridge EMEA has signed a 10-year management agreement for the 180-room Holiday Inn Eindhoven, The Netherlands, with owner Borealis Hotel Group.

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