It’s Viceroy: An auction of the luxury Viceroy L’Ermitage Beverly Hills hotel this week was canceled after potential buyers declined to bid more than the US$100 million base price established by an unidentified “stalking horse” bidder last month. If the latest sale is approved by the court in September as expected, the identity of the bidder will be publicly revealed.
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Art-Invest acquires Leonardo Royal Berlin: Art-Invest Real Estate acquired the 346-room Leonardo Royal Berlin Alexanderplatz hotel from the Fattal Hotel Group for an undisclosed price, according to HVS. The property, which is leased for 25 years, will continue to be operated by Fattal under the Leonardo Royal brand. The listed building, located near the Prenzlauer Berg district in Berlin, is planned to undergo renovation.
Nobu London Portman Square opens in November: Nobu Hotel London Portman Square is set to open in November. The design concept for the hotel has taken inspiration from Japanese architectural disciplines and minimalist design, with David Collins Studio responsible for common spaces and Make architects conceptualizing rooms and suites.
Poland update: A report from Horwath HTL shows that the Polish economy is considered steady with GDP during the second decade of 2000s consistently growing. In the region and among the 28 EU countries, Poland was among the highest in terms of GDP growth. Foreign tourists in Poland spent US$9.8 billion, more by 2% in USD compared with 2018. The total foreign expense receipts from foreign incoming tourism amounted to US$18.6 billion and were higher than in 2018 by 10.7 and 17.1%, respectively.
New positions at Choice: Choice Hotels International has made several promotions, including: Scott Oaksmith to senior vice president of real estate and finance; Raul Ramirez to senior vice president, head of international and strategic and financial planning; Elizabeth Redmond to chief accounting officer; and John Lancaster to the newly created position of regional vice president.
Tea and a scam at London Ritz: Diners at London’s Ritz were targeted by scammers posing as hotel staff to steal credit card numbers. The Ritz told the BBC it was investigating a “potential data breach.” It’s not known how the scammers got restaurant reservation information, but one woman, who had made an online booking for afternoon tea at the Ritz, received a call the day before her reservation asking her to confirm the booking with her payment details.