Worldwide briefing

Essential news from around the world…

Eagle takes flight
Great Eagle Hotels, owner of the Langham Hilton in London, the Great Eagle Hotel in Hong Kong and further hotels in Boston, Toronto, Melbourne and Auckland, has changed its hame to Langham Hotels International.

Eating-out set to grow Time-pressed European consumers are set to dine out more often during the week for the sake of convenience, says a report from market analysts Datamonitor. It claims that the number of times people stay at home during the working week will decrease by 1.2% a year over the period 2002-2007.

Business travellers spend less
Spending by North American business travellers has dropped to its lowest level for a decade, says a survey from management consultants Runzheimer International. Annual spending per traveller dropped to $6,667, down from $10,000 two years ago.

Half-century for Ritz-Carlton Ritz-Carlton opened its fourth hotel in the Middle East and its 50th worldwide when it took over the management of the 264-bedroom Le Royal Méridien Bahrain on 1 January. The US-based company also has properties in Doha in Qatar, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt.

French hotels buck trend France was the only country in the European Union to record a growth in revenue per available room (revpar) during the 12 months to the end of November 2002, says a survey of corporate-operated hotel chains from MKG Consulting. Revpar growth in France was 0.6%. Germany came off worst, recording a 5.2% drop.

Wendy's holds firm US burger chain Wendy's International has reported a 4.7% increase in like-for-like sales at its company-owned restaurants during 2002. Like-for-like sales at its franchised outlets were up by 7.1%. At its Tim Hortons coffee-and-baked-goods restaurants, like-for-like sales increased by 7.2% in Canada and 9.9% in the USA.

New European boss for burger giant McDonald's Corporation has named Russ Smyth as president of McDonald's Europe. He was previously president, McDonald's Partner Brands.

M&C will run Dubai airport hotel Millennium & Copthorne Hotels has been awarded the management contract for the 484-bedroom Dubai Airport Hotel in the United Arab Emirates. The company now has five management contracts in the Middle East and north Africa.