More Chinese money enters Europe: Kew Green Hotels, InterContinental Hotels Group’s largest hotel-management partner in the United Kingdom, has been bought by Chinese hotel company HK CTS Metropark Hotels Company, reputedly for a figure close to £400 million ($619 million), according to The London Times and other media.
The parent company of HK CTS Metropark Hotels Company is conglomerate China National Travel Service Group of Hong Kong, whose hotel interests include luxury brand Grand Metropark Hotels and budget brands Traveler Inn and Traveler Inn Express.
Jin Jiang scoops up another chain: Chinese hotel company Jin Jiang has acquired an 80% stake in fellow Chinese hotel company Vienna Hotel Group for 1.8 billion renminbi ($289.4 million), a piece of business that replicates the July news that it is well along in discussions to also buy up 80% of another Chinese hotel firm, Plateno Group.
Last year, Jin Jiang bought French hotel company Louvre Hotels Group.
Great Wolf announces new CEO: Following the completion in May of the acquisition of Great Wolf Resorts by investment firm Centerbridge Partners, L.P., from Apollo Global Management, the company has a new leader at the helm, according to a news release.
Ruben A. Rodriguez arrives from his role as executive VP of ship operations at Carnival Cruise Line to replace current CEO Kimberly K. Schaefer in September. Schaefer will assume the role of chief brand officer for Great Wolf through the end of this year and will transition to Great Wolf’s board in early 2016.
DiamondRock Hospitality Company has published its second-quarter 2015 results and increased its full-year guidance to reflect its recent acquisition of the 184-key Sheraton Suites Key West, which it bought in June for $94 million, according to a news release.
Among the highlights for the quarter are an increase in pro forma revenue per available room of $184.50, an increase of 6% from the same period in 2014. The company also reported pro forma hotel-adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization margin of 34.56%, an increase of 166 basis points from 2014. Adjusted EBITDA was $81.1 million, an increase of 14.3% from 2014.
U.S. capital to get dual-branded hotel: Hilton Worldwide Holdings and Hyatt Hotels Corporation are to combine forces in a dual-branded hotel in new Washington, D.C., development The Wharf. The property will have a combined floor space of 300,000 square feet and is due to open by the end of 2017. Both the 175-key Canopy by Hilton and 238-room Hyatt House will be managed and operated by Concord Hospitality Enterprises Company.
The property will join the already announced but separately sited The Wharf InterContinental, which will have 278 rooms. When that property was announced, it was disclosed that another two hotels would join it.
Compiled by Terence Baker.