Read the latest hotel industry news from around the Europe region.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine will result in the loss of most of the gains made by Russian hotels as the COVID-19 pandemic comes to an end, with increased geopolitical risk keeping international travelers away and sanctions and international condemnation making Russia a pariah state. Hoteliers in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia’s two largest cities, said they were more than satisfied with 2021 operational performance, according to Hotel News Now contributor Vladislav Vorotnikov.

In addition, HNN’s Terence Baker writes that global economists predict the crisis will not affect Western economies to anywhere the same level. Europe, however, which is more dependent on Russian energy, will have more challenges than the U.S. Economists at business advisory Deloitte said the invasion will not spook investment and stock markets anywhere near levels seen during the Middle East oil crisis of the early 1970s.

Accor said that despite consumers facing new lockdowns around the omicron variant of COVID-19 its business over the last quarter of 2021 and bookings projected over the first two quarters of 2022 are showing performance that “is getting better ... quarter after quarter,” writes HNN’s Baker.

Speaking at an analyst presentation of its full-year 2021 earnings, the French firm’s chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin said, “[Revenue per available room] at the end of the first quarter of 2022 should show improvement. … Don’t stop thinking. Don’t stop acting. Be daring. You might be wrong two times out of 10, but you will be right eight times.”

Sixty-two percent of American travelers are rethinking European travel plans amid concerns over the Russian invasion of Ukraine and resultant security concerns. That percentage is roughly twice as much as those citing COVID-19 as a factor for not visiting the continent, according to a survey from Overland Park, Kansas-based MMGY Travel Intelligence.

Another finding of the report is that 47% of U.S. travelers have decided to wait until the security situation in Europe improves before they make plans to visit.

British hotel firm IHG Hotels & Resorts exited more than 49,000 rooms in 2021, which was more than the 44,000 rooms it opened, according to its executives, who added that leisure demand continues to be its driver to attempt to regain pre-pandemic performance, writes HNN’s Baker.

President and CEO Keith Barr said at the firm’s full-year 2021 earnings report that growth is primarily being driven by its U.S. hotels, with RevPAR for the full year up 54% on 2020 numbers and down just 17% of full-year 2019 RevPAR. In the fourth quarter, RevPAR was up 76% year over year and down by 5% when compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.

The so-called “Leveling up” strategy in the United Kingdom, which aims to promote regions outside of London and the Home Counties, could result in advancing economic and social equity and seen more discretionary spend shared around, HNN’s Baker writes.

One thorn, according to hoteliers, is business rates, which they say puts financial pressure on larger premises, especially with less guest demand. Some have asked for a 2% value-added/sales tax to replace business rates, which they said targets actual business, and would raise the same amount of revenue to government coffers. London is not expected to suffer as a result of a policy that targets regional U.K. markets.

Atlas Hotels, based in Leicester, England, in cooperation with affiliate London + Regional Hotels, has acquired the six hotels of Chardon Group, which consist of 569 rooms in the Scottish cities of Dunfermline, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perth.

Atlas now has approximately 7,400 rooms in 60 hotels across the U.K., and more might be added. L+R’s managing director Desmond Taljaard said, “We have earmarked over 200 million pounds sterling ($272 million) to expand Atlas Hotels.”

• Deutsche Finance International and Cells Group have acquired the 394-room Sheraton Berlin Grand Hotel Esplanade for 116 million euros ($126 million) from Archer Hotel Capital and Event Hotels.
• Arora Group has bought the 228-room Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf & Spa from Elite Hotels.
  
• Plusell Blis SL — an investment company based in Tarragona, Spain — spent 62.5 million euros to acquire three hotels in the Spanish province of Andalucia from insurance company Mutualidad de la Abogacía. The assets are in the vacation destinations of Almuñécar, Torremolinos and Vera Playa.
  
• CDL Hospitality Trusts acquired Manchester’s 189-room Hotel Brooklyn for 24.1 million pounds sterling ($31.6 million).
  
• Hyatt Hotels Corp. and owner Exacorp One S.L. will introduce the Thompson Hotels brand to Spain with the 175-room Thompson Madrid, which is due to open in the summer.
  
• Stoneweg Hospitality and Bain Capital Credit have acquired the Palladium Hotel Don Carlos in Santa Eulalia del Río, Ibiza, for 30 million euros, a month after the pair announced the acquisition of the 173-room Los Monteros Spa & Golf Resort in Marbella, Spain.
• Hotel management firm Primestar Hotel GmbH opened the dual-branded hotel Holiday Inn Express/Hampton by Hilton Munich North.
  
• Marriott International — along with property owner Cola Holdings — will debut its St. Regis brand in London with the 2023 opening of the St. Regis London, a renovation of the Westbury Hotel valued at 90 million pounds sterling..
  

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