Governments And Rezidor In Concert For Africa | Rezidor SAS Hospitality wants to have more than 50 hotels open in Africa within the next five years, with the Radisson SAS and Park Inn brands leading the charge. But dreams cost, and, fortunately for Rezidor, this is where funds administered by the governments of four Scandinavian countries will start paying. IFU from Denmark, Swedfund and Finnfund, all three of whom together answered the call when Rezidor wanted partners in Russia, are joined by Norfund in signing a joint venture agreement with Rezidor worth €35 million. Rezidor will revisit South Africa, where it currently operates two properties in Cape Town (the Radisson Hotel Waterfront and the Park Inn Greenmarket Square), and call in on countries including Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Morocco.

Hilton To Manage The Nova Yardinia In Italy | The Nova Yardinia, a hotel complex in Castellaneta Marina, on the Gulf of Taranto in southern Italy, will be known as the Hilton Nova Yardinia from 1 July. The complex has a total of 790 rooms shared among the Hilton Alborea, the Hilton Kalidria, the Hilton Calané and The Valentino Village, which will take the Hilton name once refurbishment work is over. Hilton International was invited to manage the complex by Nuova Concordia. On the same day that Hilton takes over, Wolfgang M. Neumann, currently the President of Hilton’s UK and Ireland region, will be settling into the chair vacated by Jürgen Fischer, who moves from the position of President, Europe and Africa, to the role of President in Hilton’s newly formed Commercial Operations Group. Mr Neumann’s position will be filled by Howard Friedman, the current President of The Americas region.

Marriott International Discovers Algeria | Marriott International’s first hotel in Algeria is set to open in 2007. The company has signed a management contract with Société de Développement Hôtelier for the 274-room JW Marriott Hotel Algiers. The property will be part of the mixed-use Clubs des Pins site, which lies 20 km to the west of the capital Algiers.

Mövenpick To Set Up Residence In Qatar | Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts has signed another management agreement in the Middle East; however, on this occasion the company has not put its name to another city or resort hotel, but to its first residence in the region. The document, which also bears the name of Regency Group president Ibrahim Al Asmakh, entitles the Mövenpick Residence & Suites Doha to open in the Qatari capital Doha in 2006. The property will offer 204 studios and 140 one-bedroom apartments.

Smile, And Greet The New Jumeirah | Like any other adventurer who has plans to travel widely Jumeirah International can do without having to carry excess baggage. Which is why the Dubai-based luxury hospitality group announced this week that it had shed the ‘International’ portion of its name and that from now on it wished to be addressed as simply Jumeirah. All of the company’s hotels, with the exception of the Burj Al Arab, will incorporate the word Jumeirah somewhere within their name in a rebranding exercise that should be complete by the end of the year.

George's Second Edinburgh Principal | InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has announced the sale of the 195-room InterContinental The George – Edinburgh to Principal Hotels. IHG made a total of £34 million from the sale of this hotel and the disposal, announced last week, of Brussels Europa, the owner of the 240-room Crowne Plaza Hotel Brussels Europa. IHG will relinquish the management of The George, which had an asking price of more than £25 million when it went on sale early last year. The property becomes Principal Hotels’ second in Edinburgh, and next January the company will be spending £14 million on renovation work. If it wants to borrow a paint chart, Principal has only to nip across the road and call on Hilton International, which is nearing the end of a £6.4 million renovation of The Caledonian Hilton.

Corus Subsidiaries Sell Eight UK Hotels | Four wholly owned subsidiaries of Corus Hotels are between them to sell a total of eight three-star hotels (477 rooms) in the UK to Swallow Hotels for a total of £32.8 million. Delaquest leads the way with three hotels: The Chequers Hotel, in Newbury, Berkshire; and two in Staffordshire: The Roman Way Hotel, in Cannock, and The Stone House Hotel, in Stone. Echostand’s offering is the Plough & Harrow Hotel, in Birmingham, and The Chiltern Hotel Luton, in Luton, Bedfordshire. County Hotels brings to the feast The Rose & Crown Hotel, in Salisbury, Wiltshire, and The Telford Golf & Country Club, in Telford, Shropshire. Flamepro is parting with The Beverley Arms Hotel, in Beverley, East Yorkshire.

A Sale Each For Sweden And Norway | Sveafastigheter Sverige I, a fund administered by Stockholm-based firm Sveafastigheter, is reported to have agreed to pay €12.2 million to its compatriot Karlo Förvaltning for the mixed-use complex in the Swedish city of Växjö of which the 76-room Quality Hotel Konserthuset forms a part. Reports from over the border in Norway suggest that native chain Rica Hotels is to join in with the purchase of a hotel it already operates: the Holmenkollen Park Hotel Rica, in Oslo. A partnership it has formed with Rica Eiendom and Eiendomsspar will pay Hoegh Eiendom a reported €48.3 million for the 111-room hotel.

Premier Travel Inn Prepares Indeed To Travel | Whitbread is said to have been eyeing the Northern Ireland market for some time and now, say newspaper reports from the region, the company is ready to move in. The Premier Travel Inn brand is to make its maiden voyage from mainland Britain and it will arrive in the coastal town of Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, next spring ready to hoist its flag above a 49-bed hotel. The reports suggest that this could be the first of 20 properties (Brewers Fayre pub-restaurants among them) to be built over the next five years; a 150-room hotel in the centre of Belfast is said to be a possibility.

Hotel Caruso Returns In Fine Voice | It has taken almost six years for Orient-Express Hotels to finally hang up its paintbrush, but it has now done so and it has stepped back to admire the results of renovation work on the Hotel Caruso Belvedere. The work, costing US$30 million, began when the company acquired the 54-room property in 1999. The property in the coastal town of Ravello joins the likes of the Hotel Splendido and the Hotel Cipriani in the company’s Italian collection.

Radisson SAS And Hilton Add To Their Irish Portfolios | The Republic of Ireland will close this week at least two hotels the richer. The southern city of Cork will be welcoming the country’s eighth Radisson SAS hotel: the 129-room Radisson SAS Hotel & Spa, Cork. The €37 million property stands on the Little Island Business Park. Hilton International is no stranger either to the Republic; this week’s visit is its third. The latest addition to the company’s portfolio is the 166-room, four-star Hilton Dublin Airport.

Cityscape On The Horizon | Write a note for the milkman now and clear your diary for the three days between 17 and 19 September, for you would not want to miss Cityscape 2005. This is the fourth International Property Investment & Development Event, and last year it attracted more than 10,000 people. Focusing on all aspects of property development, the event – to be held at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre – will be addressed by a host of distinguished speakers, including Elie Younes, an Associate Director at HVS International’s London office. For more details visit www.cityscape-online.com click here.

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