IHG to open ninth Indigo Hotel and other international hotel news

IHG to open ninth Indigo Hotel
InterContinental Hotels Group is to launch its ninth Hotel Indigo with the opening of a 187-room property in Amherst, New York in the USA. Located northeast of Buffalo and 20 miles from Niagara Falls, the property is housed in a six-storey building comprising a branded boutique hotel designed to appeal to lifestyle-focused guests. It will feature a fitness centre with indoor swimming pool and will offer a range of dining outlets and bars. The hotel will also offer free high-speed internet access in all guestrooms and wireless in the public spaces and will include three meeting rooms, with the largest catering for up to 135 guests.

Hilton Rabat in Morocco sold for $89m Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, has sold the Hilton Rabat in Morocco for approximately US$89m (£45m) to Risma Holding, a publicly listed company on the Casablanca stock market. The deal marks the largest single asset hotel transaction ever completed in Morocco. The five-star Hilton hotel in Rabat is built on nine hectares of land and has 269 rooms, 20 bungalows, six restaurants and 2065sq m of meeting space. It also includes an open-air swimming pool, a spa, fitness club, four tennis courts, and a golf driving range.

Hilton sells eight hotels in EuropeHilton has completed the sale of eight hotels in Europe, to a fund managed by Morgan Stanley Real Estate. Completion of the sale of two further hotels (Hilton Brussels and Hilton Zurich) to the same purchaser is expected by the end of the third quarter 2007. The gross proceeds from the sale of all 10 properties are expected to be approximately €566m (£382m). The eight European properties are: Hilton Dresden, Hilton Dusseldorf and Hilton Weimar in Germany; Hilton Charles de Gaulle and Hilton Strasbourg in France; Hilton Luxembourg; Hilton Barcelona and Los Zocos Club Resort in the Canary Islands in Spain.

Life Resorts opens training hotel in Vietnam Life Resorts Management has opened the Villa Hue Hotel as the first tourist training property in central Vietnam to train hospitality staff able to meet international standards. The 12-room four-star hotel offers Wi-Fi access throughout the property as well as a restaurant serving both Vietnamese and Western food, a lobby bar and coffee lounge. Life Resorts currently owns and operates two resorts in Hoi An and Quy Nhon and plans to open four additional properties in Ninh Binh, Ha Long, Sapa and Phan Thiet as part of its US$100m (£50m) plan to develop a chain of luxury resorts and hotels throughout Vietnam by 2010.

Starwood to launch St Regis hotel and residences in BangkokStarwood Hotels & Resorts is to launch a hotel in Thailand with the opening of the St. Regis hotel and residences in the capital city of Bangkok in 2010. The hotel will include 198 guestrooms as well as 22 serviced apartments and 71 residential units. The hotel will feature an all-day dining outlet, a specialty restaurant, a decanter wine cellar and lobby bar and lounge. Facilities will also include a Remède Spa, close to 10,000sq ft of function space, and a fitness centre with swimming pool.

By Kerstin Kühn

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