Europe, Middle East and Africa hotel deals and developments: Kempinski Hotels debuts in the Republic of Congo

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

Kempinski Hotels and owner, Saudi Arabia firm Al Othman Holding have opened the Kempinski Hotel Brazzaville in the capital of the Republic of Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville. It is Kempinski’s first new hotel in Africa for 10 years. The 197-room property has a 600-person capacity ballroom.

The Gran Hotel Taoro, has reopened as a hotel in Puerto de la Cruz on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. The property has been a casino and a closed, historical landmark for the last 50 years despite opening as a hotel in June 1890. The 199-room palace hotel, which once hosted luminaries such as Agatha Christie, will have six food and beverage options. My Way Hotels & Resorts owns the hotel, according to CoStar.

Marriott International has debuted in the Democratic Republic of Congo with two hotels, both in capital Kinshasa: the 134-room Four Points by Sheraton Kinshasa and 88-room Protea Hotel by Marriott Kinshasa. SAMAY Hospitality SARL owns both hotels, and SARV Management will manage both properties.

The 216-room 25hours MuseumsQuartier Vienna has been acquired by Art-Invest Real Estate Management for an undisclosed sum from partners JP Immobilien-Gruppe and WertInvest, which acquired the property in August 2022, according to CoStar.

Scandic Hotels on Dec. 1 opened its eighth hotel and approximately 2,600th room in Germany, the 174-room Scandic Stuttgart Europaviertel. Owned by AXA Investment Managers, the hotel, which first opened in 1999, had been temporarily closed during the transfer.

Hilton has signed its first hotel in its brand LXR Hotels & Resorts in Greece. To open next summer, the Sandblu Resort on the island of Santorini will have 66 keys, 29 of which will have private pools. RMKA PC is the owner.

Owners Experimental and Extendam have acquired from Gaw Capital the Hospes Infante Sagres in Porto, Portugal, which they are renovating before a re-opening in the third quarter of 2026. The hotel, which when it reopens will have 83 rooms, not the current 85, originally opened in 1951.

The first hotels have opened on Shura Island in the Red Sea off the west coast of Saudi Arabia. Marriott International has opened the 240-room Red Sea Edition, and IHG Hotels & Resorts has opened the 210-room InterContinental The Red Sea Resort. Red Sea Global own both properties.

Viceroy Hotels is opening three luxury safari lodges in Africa, one in Botswana and two in Zambia. The two in Zambia are the Thorntree River Lodge in Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park and Lolebezi in Lower Zambezi National Park, while the one in Botswana is the Atzaró Okavango Camp in the Okavango Delta. African Bush Camps will manage all three, which are suffixed “A Viceroy Resort.”

Operator Kerten Hospitality and owner Oromecanica Group have signed the 63-room Cloud 7 Dersa Tetuàn to open in Casablanca. No opening date has been announced.

Radisson Hotel Group and owner LDC Osnabrück GmbH & Co. have opened the 172-room Prize by Radisson Osnabrück in Osnabrück, Germany, approximately 90 miles west of Hanover.

The 200-room BoTree London now is flying the flag of Hilton brand Curio Collection. Owned by Shiva Hotels, the property opened in the Marylebone district of the city in 2023.

The Huus Quell is a new 30-suite hotel in Gonten, Switzerland, that focuses on wellness and sustainability. The hotel, which has two siblings, both in the same village, the 12-room Huus Bären and 24-room Huus Löwen, is approximately 20 miles from the independent principality of Liechtenstein. All three hotels are within an Alpine resort named Appenzeller Huus.

Management firm Aleph Hospitality has signed with owner AREA Investment & Real Estate to operate the 84-room Tapestry Collection by Hilton in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. When it opens in 2027, it will be Aleph’s third partnership with the Tapestry Collection brand.

Travelodge has opened its first hotel in the Essex port of Harwich with the 68-room Travelodge Harwich. The Burney Group owns the hotel, part of its mixed-use development Portside Retail Park.

Accor and owner Select Group are in 2027 to debut its brand Mövenpick with the conversion of the Old Thorns Hotel & Resort in Liphook, Hampshire. The 194-room Mövenpick Hampshire Old Thorns also will have a championship golf course.

IHG Hotels & Resorts plans to open its 231-room Hotel Indigo London K West Shepherd’s Bush in February. The hotel is in a building that not only formerly was simply known as the K West Hotel & Spa but also was once the BBC’s recording studio, Kensington House. Famous musicians and bands who have played there include David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks, Roxy Music and Bob Marley, to name a few.

Owner Jadran Hoteli Rijeka and Marriott International have signed an agreement to reflag the 120-room Grand Hotel Bonavia, which first opened in 1867, within its brand AC Hotels by Marriott. Approximately 50 miles southeast of Trieste, Italy, Rijeka is known to Italians as Fiume.

Hilton and owner Anker Grupa d.o.o. have signed an agreement for Hilton to manage the Hilton Lopud Beach Resort & Spa, the U.S. operator’s third hotel in Croatia. The hotel is due to open in 2027 and have 111 rooms. Lopud is the second largest of Croatia’s Elaphiti Islands, approximately an 80-minute ferry trip from Dubrovnik.

Airelles, the owner of the Airelles Palladio, Venezia, has announced the 45-hotel is to open on April 1 next year on the Venetian island, Giudecca. In a 16th century palace, the hotel room count includes 28 suites, some with views across the Grand Canal. The property, Airelles’ ninth and first outside of France, also has a secluded garden.

Mandarin Oriental plans to open the 275-room Mandarin Oriental, Jeddah, in 2030 in partnership with Jeddah Central Development Company. In the last month, Mandarin Oriental has opened two other hotels: Mandarin Oriental Downtown, Dubai, and the Mandarin Oriental, Vienna.

Accor and owner CLR Hôtels, a division of CGR group, are teaming up once again to renovate and convert Accor’s former Novotel Thalassa into the Bel Hôtel Oléron MGallery Collection. To open in April next year, the hotel is in Saint-Trojan-les-Bains, in the south of the isle of Oléron in the Bay of Biscay 90 miles north of Bordeaux. Formerly owned by Essendi, the 104-room hotel has an onus on wellness and spa treatments.

Minor Hotels plans to open the 268-room NH Collection Sliema, the brand's first hotel in Malta, by the end of 2026. The franchise agreement is for a new-build hotel.

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