Read the latest hotel industry news from around Europe.

In an exclusive interview with Hotel News Now, Horacio Alcalá, CEO of Madrid-based hotel development and management firm Alsotel, said he still sees plenty of space for hotel development, ownership and management in Spain, despite the country's popularity among investors for much of the last decade.

“Spain is repositioning itself as a destination, mainly in the luxury angle, which is where most of the investments have taken place in the big boxes, what I called resorts, 300 or 400 rooms, and we are seeing the repositioning of Madrid, the Balearics … and the next one to come is the Costa del Sol. And I have no doubt that Barcelona will turn around,” he said.

London-based real estate fund management company The Valesco Group has completed its acquisition of hotel firm Accor’s global headquarters in the Parisian satellite town of Issy-les-Moulineaux for a price of €460 million ($501.4 million).

The deal — which leases back the Sequana Tower site at 82 Rue Henri Farman to Accor for an initial period of 12 years, constitutes the largest office deal of the year in continental Europe and [the] largest office deal in France since 2021.

Manchester-based asset manager Arrow Global has acquired three hotels from Lisbon-based Dom Pedro Hotels & Golf Collection — Dom Pedro Portobelo, Dom Pedro Marina and Dom Pedro Villamor — and five golf courses. Each asset is in Portugal’s Algarve region.

According to sources, the deal is worth approximately €250 million. Dom Pedro remains as an operating entity and still has hotels in Portugal and Brazil, as well as a number of restaurants.

Whitbread PLC, owner of the United Kingdom’s largest hotel company by property number, Premier Inn, showed first-quarter revenue to June 1 up 19% year over year its first-quarter 2023 results published in June 22. Its latest earnings came on the same day the Bank of England raised interest rates to 5%, a level not seen since 2008. In May, the inflation rate in the U.K. was 8.7%, equal to the interest rate in April.

Whitbread CEO Dominic Paul said hotel guests are seeing increased value in budget and economy hotels firms such as Premier Inn, which has helped its performance. He said the firm’s revenue per available room level came in at a premium of 6% over that of the firm’s competitive set.

Singaporean investor KOP Group has paid close to the guide price of £35 million for the 105-room Burns Hotel, which occupies five Georgian townhouses in Barkston Gardens in Earls Court, west London. The new owner has said the hotel will following a renovation become part of its Montigo Resorts brand.

Earlier this year, KOP bought the 28-key Charlton House Hotel & Spa in Somerset via its public vehicle, KOP Limited, with the plan to relaunch this Grade II-listed, English country house later this summer 

London-based real estate investment fund Henderson Park has acquired the 241-room Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh-The Caledonian, a hotel that has hosted such luminaries as Queen Elizabeth II and President Barack Obama. The acquisition price is approximately £80 million.

Nick Weber, founder, CEO and chief information officer at Henderson Park, said the firm allocated the capital expenditure required to “improve the guest and visitor experience and ensure the ‘Caley’ retains its status as one of Edinburgh’s most emblematic hotels.” The deal was done via its division Klarent Hospitality.

• Publicly listed MDJM has completed the acquisition and renovation of two hotels in the U.K.: the 20-room Fernie Castle Hotel, near Fife, Scotland, with a history dating from 1353, and 12-room Robin Hill Hotel, in Torquay, Devon, England.
• Alliance Group has chosen Aimbridge Hospitality to manage the 203-room Alliance Palace Aparthotel in Batumi, a Georgian city on the shore of the Black Sea.
• Balearic Islands-based Banca Marsh has created a joint venture with Meliá Hotels International to own 80% of three hotels previously fully owned by Starwood Capital Group. The hotels — 418-room Meliá Fuerteventura; 277-room Sol Beach House Ibiza, and 144-room Innside Fuerteventura — will be repositioned and remain under the operation of Meliá.
• Hilton has announced the 2024 opening of the first hotel under its soft brand Curio Collection in Croatia, the 54-room Keight Hotel Opatija, Curio Collection by Hilton. It will be the fourth Hilton hotel in the country to be operated by Croatian firm Zagreb City Hotels.
• Scandic Hotels has announced that its home city of Stockholm will be the first site for its new economy brand, Scandic Go, the 124-room Scandic Go Upplandsgatan 4 hotel opening on Sept. 5.
• Travelodge U.K. has opened what it claims is the largest branded hotel by rooms count in Ireland, the 393-room Dublin City Centre Travelodge Plus, in a franchise deal with Dublin-based TIFCO Hotel Group.
• Hyatt Hotels Corp. made its debut in Montenegro in June with the 205-room Hyatt Regency Kotor Bay Resort, on Kotor Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The firm also is debuting its Thompson Hotel brand in Italy in a deal with owner Botteghe Oscure for the 70-room Thompson Rome due to open in summer 2024.
• Publicly listed automotive components firm Gestamp has bought the luxury, 50-room Hotel Palacio del Retiro, Autograph Collection, in its hometown of Madrid for €60 million from family office Oriel. Management firm Belagua will continue to operate the hotel in a franchise agreement with Marriott International.
• Barceló Hotel Group will enter into two new European markets with the 151-room Barceló Warsaw Powisle, which opened in the Polish capital in June, and the Barceló Fortina Malta, in the town of Sliema, which is due to open later in July.
• Publicly listed hotel firm Rialto Group, the Stockholm-based franchisor of the First Hotels brand, has bought 100% of the shares of real-estate company Företagsplanering i Malmo AB and its operating division Planetstaden Holding for 250 million Swedish krona ($23 million) and thus the 196-room Best Western Plus Hotel Planetstaden in Lund, Sweden.
• Zien Group, the parent firm of Eden Hotels, has announced its first collection hotel under a new independent umbrella, the Jan Luyken Amsterdam, a townhouse-style property, with 62 rooms.

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