MONTH IN REVIEW
MONTH IN REVIEW
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ACQUISITION
IHG acquires 51%
stake in Regent
Hotels & Resorts
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)
has announced its acquisition of a 51%
stake in Regent Hotels & Resorts has
now completed.
The 51% interest has been acquired
for $39m (£29.5m) in cash, payable in
three tranches of $13 (£9.8m). The first
payment was paid on completion, with
the second amount due in 2021 and the
third in 2024. IHG will have the right to
acquire the remaining 49% interest in a
phased manner from 2026.
The group plans to bring Regent into
its brand portfolio at the top end of the
luxury segment and will accelerate its
growth globally, growing the brand
from six hotels today to over 40 in key
global gateway city and resort locations
over the long term.
The acquisition of Regent is part of
IHG’s focus on expanding its footprint
in the fast-growing $60bn (£45.5bn)
luxury segment.
When the deal was announced back
in March Keith Barr, CEO of IHG, said:
“We see a real opportunity to unlock
Regent’s enormous potential and
accelerate its growth globally.”
He added: “In addition, by creating
a dedicated luxury division, we will be
bringing together some of the most
experienced and respected people in
the industry who will help drive our
luxury offer, ensuring that our existing
luxury brands continue to evolve
and allowing us to bring in new
brands such as Regent to enhance
our brand portfolio.”
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REVENUE
PPHE’s Q1
revenue up
3% thanks to
occupancy rise
UKHospitality has reiterated its
message that a tourist tax in
Edinburgh, or any part of the UK,
could be “disastrous for hotels and the
hospitality sector”.
The news follows Edinburgh’s
council campaigning for the legal
powers to introduce a levy and
comments by City of Edinburgh
Council leader Adam McVey
on Twitter that a tax would be
introduced in the city “in the next
12 months”.
UKHospitality chief executive
Kate Nicholls said the tax would be
“disastrous” and that “no tourist tax,
in any part of Scotland or the rest of
the UK, should even be considered
without the full involvement of the
hospitality sector”.
She said: “Adam McVey has rather
blithely announced on social media
that a tourist tax would be introduced
in the city within 12 months; yet there
has been no meaningful consultation
with the businesses at risk and no
wider discussion with the national
organisations representing the
hospitality and tourism sector.
“Hotels and hospitality businesses
are already facing a mountain of
costs and any additional tax, no
matter the cost, would present vital
employers with a significant barrier to
growth and investment.”
The UK is one of only three EU
countries which does not have a
reduced rate of VAT on hotel and
tourism services - by comparison,
the rate of VAT on hotel rooms in EU
countries is about half of the 20% rate
applied in the UK. In the majority of
EU countries which have some form
of tourist tax, there is a reduced rate
of tourism VAT.
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AWARDS
Hilton Park Lane
chefs crowned
winners of
Bake Off: The
Professionals
Pastry chef Emmanuel Bonneau and
junior sous chef Sam Leatherby from
the Hilton Park Lane hotel have been
crowned the winning team of Channel
4’s Bake Off: The Professionals 2018.
The final three teams were tasked
with creating a banquet display to
serve 80 people in the show finale, with
each group making four different types
of dessert and a centre showpiece
combining chocolate and sugar work.
According to the judges it was the
Hilton Park Lane team that impressed
them the most due to their “precision,
passion and patisserie knowledge”. Chloe
Avery, series producer, said: “Sam’s
sugar work was exquisite - so ambitious,
intricate, delicate and beautifully
constructed. The desserts demonstrated
a range of techniques that were not only
individual and lovely but the Hilton Park
Lane team also created sharing-size
entremets which were impressive.”
After their win, Leatherby, said: “That
was insane. Our journey has gone from
strength to strength, we were friends
no doubt about it, but he [Emmanuel]
was more my boss and friend second.
That’s changed and now we are friends
as much as he is my boss.”
Bonneaul added: “It’s Sam and
nobody else. There’s no way I could
have done it with anyone else. We
met some great guys, we had some
amazing times, it’s been a real pleasure
to compete with the other guys, it’s
friends very likely for life.”
August 2018