Rezidor to add Great Southern Airport hotels to portfolio and other international news

Rezidor to add Great Southern Airport hotels to portfolio
The Rezidor Hotel Group is to add three former Great Southern Airport hotels in Ireland to its portfolio next month. Two of the properties, located in close proximity to Dublin and Cork airports, will be managed as Radisson SAS hotels, while the third hotel at Shannon airport will become a Park Inn. The 229-room hotel in Dublin includes a restaurant, an Irish bar, a lounge bar and 30 meeting rooms, while the 81-room hotel in Cork features a restaurant, bar and nine meeting rooms. The property at Shannon airport, which is an important stopover location for transatlantic flights to the USA and Canada, includes a restaurant, an Irish bar and five meeting rooms.

EasyHotel plans 12 new properties
No-frills hotel venture EasyHotel plans to open 12 new properties in the next 12 months. Stelios Haji-Ioannou‘s hotel venture, which opened its first two properties in London and Basle in 2005, said it has an aggressive expansion programme that will be kick-started with the opening of two hotels central London in the next two months, in Victoria and Earls Court. The company said it also plans to have at least 60 new hotels in the planning stage over the next two-and-a-half years and has an agreement with the Dubai-based investment house Istithmar to roll out the chain in the Middle East, North Africa and India.

Hooters for Tel Aviv
US restaurant chain Hooters is to launch its first branch in Israel, with the opening of a restaurant in the capital city of Tel Aviv this summer. The group, which is known for waitresses in low-cut blouses and short skirts, said a specific location had yet to be chosen, but it would not open restaurants near large religious populations, and they would not be kosher. Ofer Ahiraz, who bought the Hooters franchise for Israel, added his plan was to open as many as five Hooters restaurants in the next few years. While the Tel Aviv branch of Hooters is expected to mimic most of the chain's other restaurants minor modifications to meet Israeli tastes are expected. The opening of Hooters in Israel is part of the chain's global expansion of opening 17 restaurants in Colombia, Dubai, Guam, New Zealand and India in the next two years.

IHG to increase guest suites in San AntonioInterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is to roll out close to 500 additional guest suites in San Antonio, Texas, in the USA over the next two years. The company said that with the addition of four Staybridge Suites hotels, it plans to triple its presence in the city by early 2009. Robert Radomski, brand management vice-president of Staybridge Suites said: "San Antonio is an ideal market for extended-stay development and the demand is currently greater than the supply. With the addition of these four new developments, we look forward to serving our guests' needs wherever they may need extended-stay lodging in the greater San Antonio area."

Starwood comes to TibetStarwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide is to launch its first hotel in Tibet with the opening of the St. Regis Resort Lhasa January 2010. The new-built 169-room hotel will be located on the eastern side of the Tibetan capital in close proximity to other tourist, retail and entertainment districts including the city's famous Potala Palace, which can be viewed from the hotel's guest rooms and lobby. The hotel will include 9,000sq ft of meeting space, three restaurants, a health club and spa, an indoor heated pool and a business centre.

By Kerstin Kühn

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