Worldwide briefing

Essential news from around the world…

Sol Meliá buys Tryp

Sol Meliá has bought rival chain Tryp for 60b pesetas (£219m). The acquisition of Tryp's 60 properties will give Sol Meliá 201 hotels across Spain and will produce cost savings of more than 1b pesetas (£3.65m) a year.

Growth target raised

The hotel sector in the USA is set to achieve higher than expected growth this year, according to analysts at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Revenue per available room will increase by 5.6% during 2000, they predict, as a 4.3% increase in demand outweighs the 3.2% growth in the number of hotel bedrooms.

Kempinski loses out

German hotel group Kempinski has lost its management contracts for the Hotel Fürstenhof in Leipzig and the Hotel Elephant in Weimar, following a change of ownership of the two properties.

English pub in Beirut

Starwood Hotels has opened its second hotel in Beirut, Lebanon, the 58-suite Four Points Hotel Lancaster. Its facilities include a traditional English pub, Alfred's.

Radisson expands

Seven hotels with a total of 1,087 bedrooms joined Radisson Hotels & Resorts during the second quarter of 2000. Two of the hotels are in the USA, two in Germany, two in Mexico and one in Russia.

Fairfield Inn boosts presence

Olympus Hospitality Group is to convert 20 hotels in the USA to the Fairfield Inn by Marriott brand name, under a licence agreement signed last week. The hotels, currently operating under the Susse Chalet banner, have 2,320 bedrooms between them.