Luxury Hotelier - November 2007 - (Page 14)

14| Inform Openings Peninsula Hotels opened its eighth hotel, The Peninsula Tokyo, in September. The first freestanding luxury hotel to be built in Tokyo in more than 10 years, the 24-story Peninsula Tokyo offers 314 guestrooms, including 47 suites, five unique restaurants, two ballrooms, six elegantly designed function rooms and The Peninsula Spa by ESPA. Architect Kazukiyo Sato designed the hotel. Palace Resorts on October 1 opened Isla Mujeres Palace to its line of allinclusive luxury resorts. The 62-room property rests on the island of Isla Mujeres, which is located just eight miles across the Bahia de Mujeres, or “Bay of Women,” from Cancun. Sofitel, the luxury hotel brand of Accor, opened the Sofitel Wanda Beijing, the latest flagship of the brand in Asia, on October 1. This is Sofitel’s 20th property in China. The 27-story Sofitel Wanda Beijing has 417 rooms and suites and a dedicated Club Sofitel executive lounge. The Rocco Forte Collection on October 4 opened its Munich property, The Charles Hotel, in honor of Sir Rocco Forte’s father, renowned hotelier Lord Charles Forte. The Charles Hotel is The Rocco Forte Collection’s third German property, joining Hotel de Rome in Berlin (which opened in October 2006) and Villa Kennedy in Frankfurt (which opened in March 2006). The eight-story, $98-million property has 132 40-square-meter (430square-foot) rooms, nine junior suites (516 square feet), 18 master suites (753 square feet) and a presidential suite (1076 square feet). Leela embarks on growth plans T he Leela Palaces Hotels & Resorts launched an aggressive three-year expansion plan to double its room capacity by introducing six new worldclass properties to bring its total to 10. The new properties, all in India, will be in Gurgaon Delhi NCR (to open spring 2008), Udaipur (winter 2008), Chennai (winter 2009), Hyderabad (2010), South Delhi (2010) and Pune (2010). The total investment is $300 million. Currently the hotel company has five-star properties in Mumbai, Bangalore, Kovalam and Goa. The 250-room South Delhi hotel will be built on three acres. The site, which was acquired at a cost of $152.75 million, is strategically located on Vinay Marg/Africa Avenue in the central business district. Leela, based in Mumbai, maintains an association with Kempinski Hotels. The company’s appetite for growth is driving it to explore additional management contracts in source markets, such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. It also is strengthening its international marketing and distribution infrastructure in the United Kingdom, Middle East and North America by opening up its own offices in London, Dubai and New York. Leela’s flagship hotel in Bangalore has the highest average room rate in the country at $450 per night and maintains 70-percent occupancy. Asia Pacific conference selects deals of the year M organ Stanley Real Estate Fund’s $2.36-billion acquisition of ANA Japan from All Nippon Airways—the largest regional hotel transaction on record and the largest-ever property transaction in Japan—was named the Merger & Acquisition Deal of the Year during the 18th annual Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific. The deal followed on the heels of the establishment of the joint venture of InterContinental Hotels Group with ANA Hotels and Resorts to form IHG ANA Hotels Group Japan. Other nominees in this category included Kingdom Hotel Investments’ acquisition of the Four Seasons Resort Langkawi (Malaysia) from Malaysia Airlines and the acquisition of Taisei Corporation’s Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay Hotel by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide and Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund. The Venetian Macau was selected as the Reggie Shiu Development of the Year. Developed by Las Vegas Sands, and constructed at a cost of $2.4 billion, The Venetian Macau is the largest building in Asia and the new focal point of Macau. The hotel opened in August. Nominees in this category included the Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo, developed by Mitsui Fudosan Consortium, and the W Maldives Retreat & Spa, developed by Universal Enterprises/Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. The first Sustainable Hotels Awards also were presented at HICAP. Winners included Nihiwatu Resort, Sumba Island, Indonesia, in the Site Selection, Operational Aspects and Leveraging Influence categories; Soneva Gili and Six Senses Spa, Lankan Fushi, Maldives, in the Leveraging Influence category; and Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort and Spa, Queensland, Australia, in the Operational Aspects category. Luxury Hotelier | November 2007 | www.LuxuryHotelier.com http://www.LuxuryHotelier.com

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Luxury Hotelier - November 2007 Contents Editor's Letter Publisher's Letter Inform: News and Notes Network: People Personalities: Traditional Innovator Insight: Smith Travel Research / The Bench Insight: Ypartnership Properties: A Front-Row Seat to Moscow Properties: Northern Star Inspire: Outdoor Showers Deliver: Wellness and Fitness Protocols: The Real Deal Insight: Cornell University Innovate: In-Room Technology Development: Global Project Pipeline Indulge: Coffee and Tea Insight: Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne Connect: Regional Marketing Update: IH/M&RS Luxury Product Collection Dossier: Davide Bertilaccio of The Rocco Forte Collection’s Le Richemond

Luxury Hotelier - November 2007

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