HotelsMag December 2013 | Page 20

THE GOSTELOW REPORT

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co . cannot put its name on properties in France , Spain and the United Kingdom , all with long-standing The Ritz hotels . But the company ’ s Vice President of Europe Sandeep Walia is keen to get into Monte Carlo or Rome .
Sven Gevers , Bangkok-based regional managing director for Orient-Express Hotels , Resorts and Trains , heads six hotels with 336 keys . To complete his “ circuit ,” he wants Bangkok city , to feed the Eastern &
MARY GOSTELOW
Now that she is president of international for Fairmont Raffles Hotels International , Jennifer Fox is more or less commuting between Luxembourg and Zurich . In addition to continuing as president of Fairmont , she is responsible for all Raffles and Swissôtels and overall strategy for every area outside the Americas . Her main concern is to get presence for at least one of the three brands in Hong Kong , Kuala Lumpur , Seoul and Tokyo , and she wants
Oriental train , which ceremoniously plies between Bangkok and Woodlands , Singapore . He similarly wants a Myanmar resort to complement the company ’ s riverboats .
As it happens , Gecko Holdings Group has islands available in the Mergui Archipelago , some 800 islands off Myanmar ’ s southwest coast ( there is so far only one noteworthy development in the whole archipelago , the Myanmar Andaman Resort on MacLeod Island ). Sandra Hlaing , brought up in the archipelago and now Yangon-based partner of Gecko Holdings , suggests a perfect development could be on Kyun Philar island .
more in her own home country , Australia , which so far only has Swissôtel Sydney .
Australia is also once again in the sights of The Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels , parent of The Peninsula Group , Hong Kong . Director and COO Peter Borer , who had long wanted a property in London , now has that dream partly realized . The Peninsula London will , all being well , be at Hyde Park Corner , across Grosvenor Crescent from The Lanesborough . Now Borer wants to see The Peninsula name going into India , Sydney and into secondary cities in China to complement The Peninsula Beijing and The Peninsula Shanghai .

SCANDIC LAUNCHES NEW BRAND

Scandic Hotels , Stockholm , is creating a sister company to launch its HTL hotel brand , which intends to cater to the digital- and mobilefocused consumer .
Scandic aims to grow the moderately priced , design-led brand to 20 hotels in major Nordic cities within five years . HTL , which named Scandic executive Joachim Högefjord as CEO , will primarily be established through new-builds and conversions , particularly of office buildings . Two locations have been secured in Stockholm with the 275-room HTL on Kungsgatan due to open in May 2014 .
“ Few if any other providers could develop their own concept due to the challenge of achieving the right contract models and the resources to create a strong concept and brand with which to build up a new chain ,” says Anders Ehrling , outgoing CEO of Scandic , who was recently replaced by Frank Fiskers .
18 HOTELS December 2013 www . hotelsmag . com