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Four Seasons Hotels and
Resorts , Toronto , would really like something in
Panama , says Christian Clerc , regional vice president based in Washington , D . C ., where he is also general manager . Among projects he is already working on are Bogota and Cartagena , Colombia ; Lima , Peru ; Los Cabos , Mexico ; and São Paulo , Brazil .
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MARY GOSTELOW |
ruler , now announces an Address development in Marassi on Egypt ’ s
Mediterranean coast between Alamein and Sidi Abdel Rahman . The Address Marassi Golf Resort & Spa is a 1,544- acre ( 625-hectare ) resort being developed by Emaar Properties ’ Egyptian subsidiary , Emaar Misr . The resort will have 79
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Puigpunyent , on the Spanish Balearic island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean , is the site of Finca Savinya , a 200-year old manor house on 29 acres ( 12 hectares ) of natural woodland . With nine bedrooms and staff accommodation , it has been lived in privately until now . The owners , who put in a spa with a 45-ft ( 14-m ) indoor swimming pool , had envisaged turning it into a hotel , but now they wish to sell . There is opportunity for four more bedrooms , and planning permission has been given for an additional four townhouses on the estate . There is already a license for a small hotel . Finca Savinya is being marketed by co-owner Jim Dunn , long-time PR specialist and hotelier .
Rolf Hübner is Vienna-based vice president of operations of Central Europe for IHG . By 2014 he will have 16 hotels — covering all IHG ’ s brands — in Turkey , where he sees even more opportunities for growth . In Istanbul there should be a second InterContinental property , franchised like the existing 390-room InterContinental Ceylan Istanbul , to construction giant Mahmut Ceylan , who is doing major projects in Bulgaria , Ukraine and Uzbekistan .
The Address Hotels + Resorts , a hospitality and leisure subsidiary of Emaar Properties , Dubai , did have an earlier project — since aborted — in France , but until now has been exclusively in its home state . Emaar Chairman Mohammed Ali Rashid Al Alabbar , senior aide to Dubai ’ s
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rooms and 50 serviced residences . Alabbar is in expansion mode and is also talking about having The Address in New York , London , Paris , Istanbul , Marrakech and Kenya and , in greater China , in Beijing , Shanghai , Guangzhou and Hong Kong . Singapore and Bali are other targets elsewhere in Asia . Emaar also signed a contract , in January 2007 , with Giorgio Armani SpA for Armani Hotels and Resorts with Emaar meeting all development costs . At that time locations were said to be not only Dubai and Milan — both of which are now open — but also New York , London and at least one resort .
Baku , the Caspian Sea-set capital of Azerbaijan , is seeing every top-level brand entering the market . President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev personally cut the opening ribbon on April 1 for the Absheron , to be a JW Marriott . And yet , with visas not only difficult to get but incredibly expensive , and no domestic tourism , what is the point ? Venezuelan Manuel Avila , highly experienced general manager of the 6-month old Hilton Baku , says citywide 5-star occupancy in 2013 will be 40 %, maximum .
Eric Swanson is general manager of the Millennium Seoul Hilton . He says there is a shortage of long-stay product , and players such as the Ascott Group , Singapore , are looking for opportunities . There is also a current trend to develop the 2- and 3-star market in Seoul to encourage yet more leisure travel out of China .
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