Europe, Middle East and Africa hotel deals and developments: Hilton, Taiba Investments to open Waldorf Astoria in Saudi Arabia in 2028

This roundup features the latest hotel deals and developments in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

Hilton has signed a deal with Taiba Investments to open the Waldorf Astoria Al Madinah (Medina) in 2028, the first for the brand in Saudi Arabia. In one of Islam’s holiest cities, the hotel, a conversion of the former Taiba Front Hotel, will have 300 rooms and a direct view of the Al-Masjid al-Nabawī, the Prophet’s Mosque.

Stockholm-based hotel firm Scandic has opened its second Scandic Go-branded hotel in the Swedish capital with the 234-room Scandic Go Sankt Eriksgatan.

The Delano Dubia opened in the emirate in October. The 251-room hotel, part of the Ennismore division of Accor, includes 84 suites.

Protea Hotels by Marriott International has debuted two hotels in Africa, the 69-room Protea Hotel by Marriott Delta in the Nigerian town of Warri, 60 miles south of Benin City, and 72-room Protea Hotel by Marriott Lusaka International Airport in the capital of Zambia.

Irish hotel firm Dalata Hotel Group has debuted its fifth London hotel, the 157-room Maldron Hotel Shoreditch. The company now has 23 hotels in the U.K. with a total of 5,080 rooms.

In January, Accor will open the Sofitel Cairo Downtown Nile, its fourth hotel affiliated with that brand in Egypt. The conversion hotel will have 615 rooms, and the hotel management agreement is with International Company For Touristic Investments.

Vastint Group via its division Hotel Co 51 — the largest Marriott International franchisee in Europe — has announced it will open the 115-room Element by Westin Wroclaw, Poland, which is only the second for the brand in Europe.

The AndBeyond Mnemba Island, on the coast of Tanzanian island Zanzibar has reopened following a renovation. It has 12 beach bungalows.

Accor division Ennismore has announced the debut of the Mama Shelter brand in The Netherlands with the 150-room Mama Shelter Amsterdam. Chagall B.V. and White House Development B.V. own the property, which is due to open in the first quarter of 2027.

French hotel firm Cheval Blanc said it is to open the Cheval Blanc Seychelles. All 52 villas have their own pool.

IHG Hotels & Resorts has announced five openings for its Garner brand across Europe. Two will be in the U.K., the 53-room Garner Hotel Reading Centre and 80-room Garner Hotel Preston Samlesbury. The other three, which do not have definite names as yet, include a 126-room hotel in Istanbul, a 106-room hotel in Vienna and a165-room hotel in Maastricht, The Netherlands.

IHG has signed a management agreement with owner Gruppo Statuto to open the 68-room Six Senses Milan in 2025 and 102-room Six Senses Lake Como in 2028.

Viceroy Hotels & Resorts and Finnish family office Pontos Group have opened the Viceroy at Ombria Algarve, Portugal. The hotel has 141 rooms, a spa, eight restaurants and an 18-hole golf course, among other offerings.

In early 2027, EasyHotel is to open a 141-room hotel in Ferney-Voltaire, France, which sits on the north side of Geneva International Airport, south of which begins Switzerland. EasyHotel secured for the deal its third consecutive loan, in this case for €8.6 million from bank BRED Banque Populaire.

Owner ProsperCap Corp. has reopened the 259-room Crowne Plaza Stratford-Upon-Avon, which is operated by IHG in the hometown of William Shakespeare. The hotel closed in April following a fire.

Early in 2025, Tivoli Hotels & Resorts will open the 150-room Tivoli Kopke Porto Gaia Hotel. In the city of Porto on the south bank of the Douro River, the property is a partnership with Sogevinus, the parent company of Kopke, reputedly the oldest port wine house in the world, dating to 1638, 118 years before the demarcation of the Douro Wine Region.

On Oct. 1, Hyatt Hotels Corp. opened the 366-room Dreams Madeira on the Portuguese Island of Madeira. A week later, Hyatt opened the 203-room Park Hyatt London River Thames, just west of Vauxhall Bridge in the Nine Elms district of the British capital.

Hotel firm Starhotels Group has reopened the historic Hotel d’Inghilterra Roma-Starhotels Collezione in Rome following an extensive renovation. Built to house private guests of the Palazzo Nuñez-Torlonia, which sits opposite the hotel and two streets from the Spanish Steps, the property has been a hotel since the mid-19th Century but now has a slightly reduced room count from 84 to 80.

Whitbread has acquired the freehold of a 42,000-square-foot office building in Leeds, close to the Yorkshire city’s main rail station, that it will convert into a Premier Inn hotel with approximately 120 rooms.

Hilton will debut is Spark by Hilton brand in Austria with two hotels that are part of a wider development agreement with owner Verkehrsbuero Hospitality. The assets are the 198-room Spark by Hilton Vienna Donaustadt and 243-room Spark by Hilton Vienna Messe Prater, both of which will open before the end of the year.

Travelodge has signed three leasehold deals in Spain, all of which being construction in 2025. Astigarraga Eurohostel is the owner of a 78-room property in San Sebastian; Verbian Street Iberica is the owner of a 103-room hotel in Cádiz, and Aguilera Orozco is the owner of an 82-room hotel in Alicante.

British hotel firm Rocco Forte Hotels will open its third hotel in Sicily in 2026. The 31-room Palazzo Castelluccio in the UNESCO World Heritage-listed town of Noto originally was built in 1782 for the Marquis di Lorenzo del Castelluccio and until quite recently was the home of the religious order, the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and Malta.

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