Dubai Properties inks deal with Hilton
Real estate developer Dubai Properties (DP) and Hilton Worldwide have signed a management agreement to build a DoubleTree by Hilton at the mixed-use Bay Square development in Dubai’s Business Bay district. The 238-guestroom hotel is expected to open in early 2017.DoubleTree by Hilton Dubai Business Bay will be one of DP’s many hospitality projects designed to cater to the increased number of visitors expected in Dubai ahead of Expo 2020. This is the second hotel announcement by DP in recent months, following the recent reveal of the new Anantara hotel in the Culture Village district at Cityscape. Situated close to the well-established South Ridge and Executive Towers and overlooking Business Bay, the 5.1 million sq ft Bay Square is accessible from all major highways and is in close proximity to the Business Bay Metro station, Sheikh Zayed and Al Khail roads.Leela comes to KathmanduThe Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, India’s premier luxury hospitality brand and Summit Group of Nepal signed a memorandum of understanding in the presence of Prime Minister of Nepal, Sushil Koirala, to collaborate on the first of four hotels, to be established across Nepal, marking a new era of partnership in tourism between India and Nepal. The Leela Kathmandu, the first of the series, a five-star deluxe hotel to be built in the heart of Kathmandu, is expected to be completed within 36 months.Located close to the Narainhity Museum, The Leela Kathmandu will be the first of a series of hotels to be established across Nepal. It will be followed by a hotel in Lumbini, birthplace of the Buddha, as part of The Leela Group’s plans to pave a Buddhist Trail from Nepal to Bodhgaya, Nalanda, and Varanasi in India. Other places in Nepal where hotels are being planned under the Leela banner include Pokhara.The Kathmandu property will draw heavily from the rich Newari tradition that dominates the Kathmandu valley, blending it with modern elements of the highest international excellence in luxury hotels. The World Travel & Tourism Council predicts that the total contribution of the travel and tourism sector to the Nepalese GDP, including jobs indirectly supported by the industry, will rise from $2.29 billion to $4 billion by 2024. Employment will rise from 1.112 million jobs in 2013 to 1.7 million jobs in 2024.
UK to get Ramada by the score Wyndham Hotel Group, the world’s largest hotel company with approximately 7,590 hotels and part of Wyndham Worldwide Corporation has announced the signing of a development agreement with Lester Hotels Group Limited, which will see 20 Ramada hotels open across the UK over the next ten years. The first two hotels, Ramada Resort Cwrt Bleddyn and Ramada Leicester Stage, are expected to begin welcoming guests any time now, taking the number of Ramada properties open across the country to 40. A third hotel, in Finchley, north London, is already planned to open this year as part of the deal, which also saw the licence agreement for the existing Ramada Hatfield hotel renewed for a further 20 years.All properties will be managed by Lester Hotels, who become a preferred management partner for Wyndham Hotel Group in the country.In addition to the Lester Hotels development agreement, 2014 has seen Wyndham Hotel Group take over the management of Ramada Encore Leicester and extend the brand’s franchised presence with a new hotel in Oxford.
Cristal shines bright in the regionCristal hotel group is building three new hotels in the northern Iraqi town of Erbil. It will open a hotel in Saudi Arabia next year as part of an ongoing expansion programme in the Middle East and Africa, says the group’s chief operating officer Kamal Fakhoury.Cristal is also building the Cristal Grand hotel in Nigeria, a luxury five-star hotel comprising 250 rooms. Another unnamed three-star, 500-room hotel is being set up in Nigeria, also to be operated by Cristal.Cristal is enjoying good business growth in the UAE, says the COO, with occupancy rates reaching 100 per cent in November and 78 per cent in October last year.