Worldwide briefing
Flying the flag
Choice Hotels International and lodging chain Flag International have created Flag Choice Hotels. The operation will franchise 26,000 rooms in some 500 properties across Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Papua New Guinea, using the Clarion, Quality, Comfort and Flag brands.
Suite success
Orient-Express Hotels this month opened the Palazzetto Nani Barbaro, a 16th-century property with five luxury suites decorated by Parisian designer Gerard Gallet, as an adjunct to the Hotel Cipriani in Venice's Casanova Gardens.
SLH on the park
The Park hotels in New Delhi and Calcutta, part of the Apeejay Surrendra Hotels group, have become India's first five-star properties to join the Small Luxury Hotels of the World consortium. The link was announced by Park's Priya Paul and SLH's Lynne Ireland (pictured).
Asian opening
Millennium Hotels & Resorts has launched the Copthorne chain in Asia with the opening of the 318-bedroom Copthorne Orchid Penang (formerly the Novotel Penang) in Malaysia.
Polish heritage
Grand Heritage Hotels International has signed its first East European member - the 42-bedroom Kadyny Palace hotel in northern Poland.
