Starwood enters long-term agreement with Spanish group and other international news

Starwood enters long-term agreement with Spanish group
Starwood has entered into a long-term agreement with Spanish company Group Reyna for the management of the newly named Hotel Le Meridien RA in the Spanish region of Catalonia. The 143- room hotel, which is schedule to open in January 2007, is located on the Costa Dorada, approximately 50km southwest of Barcelona. It will include a number of restaurants, a swimming pool, a beach club with sports facilities, a private-beach, and a spa featuring as well as meeting and banqueting facilities and a business centre.

Starwood opens St Maarten resort Separately, Starwood is opening a new beach resort on the Caribbean island of St Maarten later this month. The 317-room Westin St. Maarten Dawn beach resort and spa will include a number of oceanfront restaurants as well as a spa, casino, retail shops, a freshwater infinity pool, swim-up bar and expansive meeting and event facilities.

Singapore Airlines signs LSG Sky Chefs Singapore Airlines has awarded LSG Sky Chefs a six-month contract to provide in-flight services to flights out of London Heathrow. The new contract means LSG Sky Chefs' London Heathrow Customer Service Centre will provide full in-flight services to three long-haul Boeing 747 flights each day out of Heathrow to Singapore. The company will be supplying nearly 500,000 meals to more than 1,000 flights each year in a deal that further consolidates the company's Heathrow operation.

Starbucks set to open first Brazilian stores
Starbucks has launched its first two stores in Brazil with the opening of two outlets in Sao Paolo's Shopping Morumbi. "Sao Paulo will serve as a springboard for Starbucks strategic expansion into Brazil - a country with a very rich coffee heritage and tradition that we greatly cherish and respect," said Martin Coles, president of Starbucks Coffee International. "The opening of our first two stores in Sao Paulo represents another significant milestone for Starbucks in our goal toward building a global brand."

Gulf Air and Accor to offer frequent flyer programme Gulf Air has teamed up with Accor Hotels offering its frequent flyer programme members the chance to earn additional miles when staying at Accor's branded hotels, Sofitel, Novotel and Mercure. For every night's stay at a Sofitel, members will gain an extra 500 miles to their credit, while both Novotel and Mercure hotels will earn them an extra 250 points. "Gulf Air endeavours constantly to reward its loyal members in every way possible. This partnership is one more in the recent string of benefits offered to our frequent flyer programme members," said Gulf Air vice-president marketing and sales Lee Shave.

By Kerstin Kühn

E-mail your comments to Kerstin Kühn](mailto:kerstin.kuhn@rbi.co.uk?subject=Worldwide briefing) here.

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