Accor Lifestyle: AccorHotels created a Lifestyle division including the Jo & Joe, Mama Shelter and 25h Hotels brands and named Cédric Gobilliard as its chief starting in February. Gobilliard joined Accor in 2009 from Club Med, where he was CEO of North America. At Accor, he launched the Le Club AccorHotels card, among other responsibilities, and for the past two years managed relations with the Mama Shelter teams.
JV in Dubai resort: UAE-based developer Nakheel and Thailand hotel group Centara Hotels & Resorts signed a joint venture agreement to build a 550-room, US$136 million resort with waterpark at Deira Islands in Dubai. It’s expected to open in 2019.
Read the story in the Gulf Digital News
Rezidor in Scandinavia: Rezidor Hotel Group signed long-term lease agreements on the Radisson Blu Royal Viking Hotel, Stockholm, and Radisson Blu Scandinavia, Oslo. Both are owned by KLP Eiendom, which also has three other Rezidor hotels in the Nordics totaling almost 2,000 rooms. The two hotels in Stockholm and Oslo have committed to the Radisson Blu brand for another 25 years.
Spanish REIT sells portfolio: France’s Foncière des Régions, via subsidiary Foncière des Murs, completed the acquisition of a 19-hotel portfolio from Spanish REIT Merlin Properties, totaling 3,800 rooms and located primarily in Barcelona and Madrid. The transaction totals €542 million including-stamp duties (US$570.5 million).
Belmond development: Belmond Ltd. appointed Kenneth Hatton senior vice president, global development. Most recently he was SVP of the corporate transactions group at Hyatt International.
Columbia and Heathman: Seattle-based Columbia Hospitality announced a management and operating agreement with The Heathman Hotel in Kirkland, Washington. The 91-room hotel, opened in 2007, plans a renovation this year.
Conrad sale: The majority of units in the Conrad Fort Lauderdale Hotel by Hilton, formerly branded as a Trump condo hotel, were sold to a Canadian company for US$99.9 million. The troubled 290-unit room hotel was built in 2009 but didn’t open during the recession following litigation.
Read more in the South Florida Business Journal
Richard Penner: Hotel design pioneer Richard Penner died. The professor emeritus at Cornell, where he taught planning and design, was 70.