Europe, Middle East and Africa hotel deals and developments: Starhotels has acquired the Hermitage Hotel & Resort in Italy

This roundup features the latest hotel deals and developments in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

Italian owner-operator Starhotels has acquired its first resort property in the Hermitage Hotel & Resort in Forte dei Marmi, Italy, from the Maschietto family office for an undisclosed price. Located on the Ligurian Sea coast just north of Livorno, the 59-room hotel dates back to the 1970s.

Operator Kerten Hospitality and owner Azure United Properties have announced The House Residence Azure Zanzibar, a luxury, all-villa resort that will also have private residences. On Zanzibar’s Michamvi Peninsula, the resort will have 93 villas and is expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2026.

With the May opening of the 260-room Ibis Styles Madrid Airport Valdebebas, Accor has reached the 100-hotel mark in Spain. New Accor brands coming soon to Spain soon include budget brand Greet, with the Spanish first being the 65-room Greet Alicante Centro.

The Nirvana Collection has opened the West Court Retreat a few miles southeast of Reading, Berkshire, England. The 49-key hotel is in a renovated, Grade II-listed manor house that dates from the 17th century and has been a training base for the British Secret Service and an officers’ mess for the army’s Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. The hotel is a joint venture between Nirvana and the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence.

Whitbread PLC has acquired the Dorset House office property from family office Capital 38 and will open a 400-room Hub by Premier Inn hotel in the Waterloo district of London, subject to receiving planning permission. On the corner of Stamford St. and Hatfields, the hotel is scheduled to open in 2027, with construction starting this July.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has opened the La Quinta by Wyndham Batumi. On the Black Sea coast, the property is a debut for the brand in Georgia. ELT Group is the owner of the 98-room hotel.

White-label management firm Valor Hospitality Partners has debuted two hotels in the United Kingdom in partnership with owner MCAP Global Finance and IHG Hotels & Resorts’ Voco brand. The two hotels are the 133-room Voco Southampton and 130-room Voco Fareham-Solent, which were both renovated and are located in the English county of Hampshire 10 miles from one another.

Dubai-based Ardee Developments and Accor have signed an agreement to develop the 250-room Fairmont Al-Marjan Island in the emirate of Ras al Khaimah. It is due to open in 2028 and also contain 519 Fairmont-branded private residences.

Aspire Group has acquired the former Hotel Kaiserhof Wuppertal and rebranded it as the Spark by Hilton Wuppertal City Centre, with 172 rooms. Earlier in 2025, Aspire opened the first Spark hotel in Germany, the Spark by Hilton Stuttgart Sindelfingen in the former NH Stuttgart Sindelfin.

IHG will open its first Voco-branded hotel in Turkey. The 120-room Voco Antalya Konyaaltı, with owner Pınarlar Kurumsal Hizmetler Turizm A.S, is due to open in summer 2025.

The Ruby Group — now a part of IHG Hotels & Resorts' brand family — has announced a partnership with owner PSP Swiss Property to develop a former office in Geneva into an-as-yet-unnamed Ruby hotel. According to CoStar, PSP acquired the property in June 2024 from financial firm Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management for approximately €60.5 million. It will be the Ruby brand’s second hotel in Geneva and 34th in Europe.

In late May, Hilton debuted its Curio Collection soft brand in Austria with the 125-room Hotel Astoria Vienna, Curio Collection by Hilton. On Kärntnerstrasse very close to St. Stephen’s Cathedral, the hotel was built in Art Deco style in 1912 but had its last renovation in 2024. The owner is local firm Verkehrsbüro Hotellerie GmbH.

South African bank Nedbank Corporate & Investment Banking has closed on a €19.4 million sustainability-linked development and term loan with Kasada Capital Management to help fund the 186-room Mövenpick Resort Lamantin Saly in Petite Côte, Senegal.

Minor Hotels has signed a management agreement with owner Seven Tides to operate the Dukes The Palm, a Royal Hideaway Hotel, in Dubai district Palm West Beach. It will have the Minor name above the door as from Aug. 1. The property has nearly 300 hotel rooms and almost 300 serviced apartments.

Radisson Hotel Group has debuted its soft brand Radisson Collection in France with the 61-room Cour des Loges Lyon, a Radisson Collection Hotel. The hotel is owned by Principal Real Estate Europe and occupies a building dating to the 14th century that has been a hotel since 1987.

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