Marriott adds hotel in Ireland and other international news

Marriott adds hotel in Ireland
Marriott International has expanded its lodging portfolio in Ireland with the opening of the Ashbourne Marriott Hotel in Ashbourne, County Meath. The 148-room hotel, which is located near Dublin International airport, includes a restaurant called the Grill Twenty One offering a menu of grilled meat and seafood as well as the Red lounge bar. The hotel also includes 9,000sq ft of meeting space as well as a ballroom catering for up to 540 people. Recreational facilities include an indoor swimming pool as well as a fitness club. Marriott currently has five hotels in Ireland with the additional Limerick Marriott hotel scheduled to open in summer 2007.

PREM Group adds two Belgian properties Hotel management company PREM Group has acquired two four-star hotels in Antwerp in a deal worth €32m (£22m) that brings its Belgian portfolio to four properties. The deal comprises the 149-room Corinthia hotel, which is situated on the banks of the river La Meuse, as well as a 213-room property in the centre of the city, which will be rebranded under the Ramada Plaza brand. The acquisitions form part of the Group's €100m (£68m) European expansion programme which launched late last November when PREM Group bought two the Golden Tulip and Tulip Inn hotels in Antwerp. The company plans to invest a further €50m (£34m) into hotels in Belgium over the next six months with negotiations on a number properties currently ongoing.

Carlson Hotels expands global portfolio Carlson Hotels Worldwide has added six new locations to its global portfolio of brands. The new hotels include the Radisson SAS Marseille, in France; the Radisson Hotel Phoenix City Center in Arizona, in the USA; and the Park Inn Liège Airport in Belgium as well as three Country Inn & Suites by Carlson hotels in the USA. Carlson's worldwide count now totals 948 hotels with 146,448 rooms in 71 countries. Carlson hotel brands also include Regent Hotels & Resorts and Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts.

Sodexho nets two contracts with Northern Arizona University Sodexho US has been handed two 10-year contracts by the Northern Arizona University, one to operate student food service and the other to manage the Northern Arizona University-city of Flagstaff conference centre. While the student food service contract will see Sodexho upgrade product offerings and expand in areas in certain university locations, the conference centre contract, which will be managed by Sodexho Conferencing, will see the company manage a number of services including co-marketing, scheduling and pricing. The contract also includes upscale cuisine for guests at the new complex and is scheduled to open in spring 2008.

Lightstone Group to buy Extended Stays Hotels for $8b US real estate company Lightstone Group is to buy hotel group Extended Stays Hotels from private equity firm Blackstone Group, in a deal worth $8b (£4b). Privately-held Lightstone, which owns commercial and residential real estate, will finance the deal with $1b (£500m) in cash and $7b (£3.5b) in debt. Extended Stay owns 683 properties and about 76,000 units in 44 USA states and Canada and operates five brands including Homestead Studio Suites, StudioPLUS Deluxe Studios, Extended Stay Deluxe and Extended Stay America and Crossland.

By Kerstin Kühn

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