Hotel News Now each week features a news roundup from a different region of the world. This week’s compilation covers Europe.

London-based private equity firm Proprium Capital Partners has sold its 35% stake in Munich-based Motel One Group for €1.25 billion ($1.36 billion) to the hotel firm’s majority partner One Hotels & Resorts GmbH, which now owns the entire company.

Hilton has acquired a majority controlling interest in Sydell Group to expand the London-based luxury lifestyle brand NoMad Hotels, which currently has two open and operating hotels, writes Hotel News Now’s Dana Miller. Those are its flagship property NoMad London, which opened in 2021, and the NoMad Las Vegas, which opened in 2018.

The Las Vegas hotel is excluded from the deal with Hilton and will undergo a rebrand. In addition to the NoMad brand, Sydell’s portfolio includes hotel brands Line and Saguaro, the Park MGM in Las Vegas and The Ned in London. It also operates mixed-use hotel and shared accommodations brands Freeland and the Penny hotel. NoMad is the only brand involved in the Hilton deal.

Creditors at Vienna-based real estate and retail group Signa have agreed to a plan to transfer assets held by its divisions Signa Prime Selection and Signa Development Selection, which include the 146-room Park Hyatt Vienna, into receivership. Signa filed for bankruptcy in a German court at the end of 2023.

The Park Hyatt Vienna, which opened in June 2014, is considered one of Vienna’s finest hotels. Hyatt Hotels Corp., which operates the hotel, also has a 50-50 joint venture with Signa in respect to the Andaz am Belvedere Vienna, a Concept by Hyatt, which opened in 2019 with 303 rooms.

Accor is out to make hotel stays more sustainable, and in some cases — notably in its higher-segment hotels — make stays more luxurious, too. Environmental, social and corporate governance will inevitably change the hotel experience for the better, said Brune Poirson, Accor’s chief sustainability officer, during an interview with Hotel News Now.

Part of raising awareness of ESG initiatives among guests is that hotel companies must be willing to answer questions about their strategy, Poirson said.

“There have been a few complaints, so explain the reasoning. For example, in our hotels in Europe, we explain that no, there are no berries on the menu in winter as they would have to come from South Africa or some such place,” Poirson said.

Bratislava, Slovakia-based owner-operator Best Hotel Properties signed a joint-venture agreement with Luxembourg-based CPI Property Group and assumed ownership of 50% of an eight-hotel portfolio in the Czech Republic managed by CPI subsidiary CPI Hotels. The deal price, which included 50% of the operating entity, CPI Hotels, was approximately €173 million ($189 million), putting a total value on the portfolio of €347 million.

Owner Henderson Park and operator Klarent Hospitality’s acquisition of the 120-year-old hotel Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh–The Caledonian for a reputed £85 million ($107.7 million) received a 2024 CoStar Impact Award for sale/acquisition of the year in Scotland. The seller is Twenty14 Holdings.

The deal, according to sources, reflects a 3.6% net initial yield. The hotel is located on Princes Street below Edinburgh Castle in the Scottish capital.

• Yotel will open its 22nd hotel on April 18 with the 237-room Yotel Geneva Lake in Geneva, Switzerland. It includes a new food-and-beverage offering from the hotel firm, the Scandinavian-inspired Hvgge Place, which also includes an auditorium for 200 people.
• United Kingdom budget hotel firm Travelodge and owner Unex Group have received permission to convert the current vacant office building, Gredley House, in the London's district of Stratford into a 151-room hotel. It will be the firm’s 85th hotel in London and Greater London. Travelodge is getting closer to openings it 600th hotel, nearly all of which are in the U.K.
• Radisson Hotel Group has added a sixth hotel in Italy to its soft brand Radisson Collection with the 84-room Radisson Collection Hotel, Roma Antica, on the Capitoline Hill, a block from the city’s Piazza d’Aracoeli and the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II.
• Trinity Investments and Oaktree Capital Management have bought the 138-room Park Hyatt Zurich from an affiliate of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, which will continue to manage the hotel under a long-term hotel management agreement. No price was announced.
• Accor brand Mama Shelter will open a hotel in Nice, France, in June. The 102-room hotel will be the flag’s 18th hotel and its 10th in France.
• Another Accor brand, Hyde, has announced it will make its debut in Turkey on May 1 with the 216-room Hyde Bodrum. Located on the northern shore of the Bodrum Peninsula, the hotel will be an all-inclusive property.
• As part of a partnership with owner Prince Group, Accor will open the 383-room Mövenpick Resort Antalya Tekirova in Turkey. The opening date is scheduled to be in the second half of this year, with the partners stating the property — located on the Mediterranean coast south of Antalya — will be the first Mövenpick-branded resort in the country.
• Rosewood Hotels & Resorts has said July 1 will be the opening date for its latest hotel, the 98-room Rosewood Schloss Fuschl on the banks for Lake Fuschl a few miles east of Salzburg. Its building has a history dating to 1461 when it was built as a retreat for the archbishop of Salzburg.
• Hyatt Hotels Corp. and owner AXA IM Alts have opened the Grand Hyatt Barcelona, which it claims is the brand’s first urban Grand Hyatt in Spain. The 465-room hotel is the fifth Grand Hyatt in Europe.
• Aimbridge EMEA has been named as the new management firm for the Twickenham Stadium Hotel, which is part of Twickenham Stadium, home of the England national rugby team. Aimbridge now will begin a renovation of the hotel, which will not close during construction, before the hotel is rebranded as a Radisson Red hotel.

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