Sound of Music villa to become hotel and other international hotel news

Sound of Music villa to become hotel The former house of the von Trapp family, made famous in the 1960s movie The Sound of Music, is being turned into a hotel. The property, which is located in Salzburg, Austria, has been bought by an unnamed investor who plans to open it as a hotel in July. Visitors to the Villa Trapp hotel will be able to sleep in the family's former bedrooms or get married in the chapel, with room rates starting from €100 (£79) a night. According to tourism officials 40% of overnight stays in Salzburg are from fans of the Sound of Music.

IHG signs new management agreement
Intercontinental Hotels Group has signed an agreement with TD Corporation to manage a new Crowne Plaza hotel in Nha Trang, the Vietnamese coastal city. The 305-room hotel, which will also feature 113 serviced residences, is scheduled to open in 2010. It will be located along the Tran Phu Boulevard and will comprise conference and meeting facilities, three food and beverage outlets, a pool deck and a fitness centre. Crowne Plaza Nha Trang is the third Crowne Plaza hotel under development in Vietnam.

Eco-hotel to be built on Great Barrier Reef
A hotel which claims to be the world's first fully eco-friendly floating hotel is to be built off Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Reefworld has been designed by the British architect Richard Hywel Evans, whose work is inspired by the likes of Thunderbirds and Dr No. Set to open in 2010, the hotel will generate its own heat and power using turbines, solar panels and underwater trickle-charge generators. It also promises a full underwater spa, eight underwater bedrooms with glass-walled bathrooms and a research facility to conduct reef and coral research. when it opens in 2010. While the proposal has been given 100% approval from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, it has been met with controversy given the fragile state of the reef.

Raffles to add hotel in Jakarta
Raffles Hotels and Resorts is to expand its Asian portfolio with the launch of a new hotel in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. Scheduled to open in 2011, the 180-room Raffles Jakarta will be part of Ciputra World Jakarta, a new development in the Golden Triangle area, which will also include a shopping mall. The luxury hotel will feature a spa, Chinese restaurant and a bar and grill, as well as a lobby lounge and pool bar and a ballroom.

By Gemma Sharkey

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