News round-up

Concorde victim finds a buyer

A Paris airport hotel whose business plummeted after the disaster when a Concorde airliner crashed into the nearby Hotelissimo in July 2000 has finally found a buyer after languishing on the market for more than two years.

The 72-bedroom Le Relais Bleus was put on the market in early 2001. Although business returned over time, buyers continued to shun the hotel, and property agent Christie & Co was forced last spring to lower its price by offering it as a leasehold for €700,000 (£475,000) rather than a freehold for €2.3m (£1.56m).

New owner Monsieur Zulfiqer has now taken over the hotel for an unnamed amount. Christie & Co did not handle the deal.

Focus on Wales
An event catering company which will focus on the Welsh market has been launched in Cardiff by Colin Gray and Mike Coram.

Capital Cuisine will source Welsh produce and work closely with the Welsh Development Agency food directorate. It will focus on corporate events throughout the principality.

Coram would not disclose a target turnover figure, but said that the aim was to generate 20 jobs in the area. "There's no one doing the same thing," he said. "The market is for the quality end, and we will use Welsh products."

Capital Cuisine is a subsidiary of Bridgedon, which is wholly owned by Madisons Coffee. Gray and Coram own 40% each and Madisons owns the remaining 20%.

Gray will continue as executive chef for Barons Pâtisserie, which is part of the Madisons Coffee portfolio. Coram, who was director of the National Culinary Centre for Wales, will concentrate on the new company.

Big three in deal with WorldRes
Three of Europe's largest hotel companies - Accor, Six Continents and Hilton International - have joined with online reservation and sales company WorldRes to create WorldRes Europe.

WorldRes will contribute its reservation technology and European subsidiary, while the hotel companies have agreed to offer competitive rates.

The agreement, currently under review by the European Commission regulatory approval authorities, aims to make it easier for websites to sell and market the hotel brands.

WorldRes has a hotel reservation network of 30,000 properties and includes more than 2,000 web distribution partners, travel agents and global distribution systems.

New names for Best Western
The latest recruits to the Best Western hotel consortium are the four-star, 46-bedroom Miskin Manor hotel in Groes Faen, Mid-Glamorgan, and the three-star, 58-bedroom Scotland's hotel in Pitlochry, Perthshire.