MONTH IN REVIEW
MONTH IN REVIEW
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EXPANSION
Giggs and
Neville’s group
GG Hospitality
eyes expansion
As part of a strategic growth
and brand development move,
hospitality management company,
GG Hospitality has brought in former
Island Hotels Group CEO Winston
Zahra as chief executive.
CFO, Andy Floyd and head of PR
and communications, Kate Greville, will
also join Zahra in newly created roles
to strengthen the company’s leadership
team. Group operations director, Stewart
Davies will complete the company’s
new executive management team.
GG Hospitality said the team has
been tasked with “expanding the
business and elevating its growing
portfolio of brands”, which include Hotel
Football, Cafe Football, GG Events and
Catering, as well as the soon to be
launched five-star boutique hotel, Stock
Exchange Manchester.
Zahra has joined GG Hospitality
with over 30 years’ experience in
the hospitality industry. As former
co-owner and CEO of Malta based
Island Hotels Group Zahra was
involved in taking the group public
and subsequently managed its sale to
International Hotel Investments (IHI).
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ACQUISITION
AccorHotels
acquires
Mövenpick
Hotels and
Resorts
AccorHotels has signed an agreement
with Mövenpick Holding and Kingdom
Holding to acquire Mövenpick Hotels
and Resorts, for 560 million swiss
francs (£411m).
The hotel group will benefit from
AccorHotels’ loyalty program, distribution
channels and operating systems, which
will help optimise its performance.
Founded in 1973 in Switzerland,
Mövenpick Hotels and Resorts
operates in 27 countries with 84 hotels
and a particularly strong presence in
Europe and the Middle East. The group
also plans to open 42 additional hotels
by 2021, representing around 11,000
rooms, with significant expansion
planned in the Middle East, Africa and
Asia-Pacific.
Sébastien Bazin, chairman and
CEO of AccorHotels, said: “With the
acquisition of Mövenpick, we are
consolidating our leadership in the
European market and are further
accelerating our growth in emerging
markets, in particular in Middle East,
Africa and Asia-Pacific.
“The Mövenpick brand is the
perfect combination of modernity and
authenticity and ideally complements our
portfolio. Its European-Swiss heritage is a
perfect fit with AccorHotels.”
NEWS ANALYSIS
A former hotelier has been fined nearly £100,000 pounds for trafficking human
workers from Bangladesh. Shamsul Arefin, 50, was found guilty of breaches
of the Asylum and Immigration Act in July 2015 at Fort William Sheriff Court.
In other news historic cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth 2, has re-launched as a
floating hotel in Dubai, featuring cabins converted into hotel rooms and suites,
13 restaurants, an English pub, a ballroom and an exhibition area. Finally, the
world’s first space hotel is said to be launching in 2021. Guests will be charged
$9.5m each (£6.7m) for their stay.
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HOTEL OPENINGS
Radisson opens
UK’s first Red
hotel in Glasgow
Hotel group Radisson Hotels has
opened its first upscale branded hotel
in the UK in Scotlands’ largest city.
The 174-room Radisson Red Glasgow
has opened its doors and is the first
new-build Radisson Red property to
open in Europe.
Radisson Red Glasgow is the
brand’s fifth hotel to open around the
world, joining Red hotels in Brussels,
Campinas, Cape Town, and Minneapolis.
The hotel features rooms with
wallpaper designed by Glasgow comic
artist Frank Quitely with the ground
floor space of the hotel allocated
for food, drink and social hub areas
featuring a bar and restaurant. There is
also an additional rooftop skybar and
events and games studios.
Curator Michael Weston said: “We’re
all so excited to open and introduce
Red to Glasgow and the wider UK.
The Red experience is different - we
encourage laughter, playfulness and
even a little mischief with guests, and
we use our spaces as a showcase for
some of the best local talent in art,
design, music and fashion. We really
hope people come to the hotel, love
what they see, and come back again
and again.”
Richard Moore, area senior vice
president, UK, Ireland and Western
Europe, added: “Radisson Red is
bold and pushes the boundaries of
the traditional hospitality experience,
and I can’t think of a better fit for
the UK’s first Red than the city of
Glasgow.
“We’re genuinely excited to give
people the opportunity to enjoy Red,
and I feel confident that as well as
having a fantastic product in a great
location, we have the best team in
place to deliver a memorable and Red
experience for guests.”
May 2018