Hotel Sezz Saint Tropez to Reopen 15 April 2011

On 15 April 2011 Hotel Sezz Saint Tropez, a glamorous resort on the French Riviera, reopens its doors for the summer season.

Created by hotelier Shahé Kalaidjian and designer Christophe Pillet, the resort comprises 35 guestrooms and two villas surrounding a spacious central pool area, all with an outdoor shower, private terrace and garden.

As well as showing off a dazzling completed spa, the hotel will open two new luxury private villas in June.

Rezidor Signs Park Inn London Wembley

Rezidor has expanded its Park Inn portfolio with the signing of the Park Inn London Wembley. The 235-room hotel is scheduled to welcome its first guests in Q2 2012.

Park Inn London Wembley will be a mid-market hotel located 6 km away from central London on Olympic Way, a pedestrian zone leading to the main entrance of Wembley Stadium (300m).

IHG and Duet India Hotels to Develop 19 Holiday Inn Express Hotels

InterContinental Hotels Group has signed a joint venture partnership with Duet India Hotels Group (DIHL), the hotel investment arm of global asset manager Duet Group, to develop 19 new Holiday Inn Express hotels across India.

IHG will invest through a 24% equity stake, making a multi-year investment of US$30 million into the partnership. This investment will go into a fund to support the building of the 19 hotels over the next five years.

These 19 Holiday Inn Express hotels will add approximately 3,300 rooms to IHG’s current India development pipeline of over 10,000 rooms (46 hotels) and are expected to be operational by 2016.

Alila Villas Hadahaa Rebrands as Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa

Thanks to an agreement between an Hyatt affiliate and Driftwood Maldives Private Ltd., Hyatt opened its first hotel in the Maldives on 1 April 2011.

The Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa, one of the first resorts in the Maldives to follow Earth Check certification standards for construction and operations, is located in the Indian Ocean’s largest and deepest atoll, Huvadhoo.

ADR Increasing in New Zealand

Data from STR Global show a 15.3% occupancy decrease for hotels in Christchurch, New Zealand, for the first two months of 2011, a decrease that was strongly influenced by a 25.2% drop reported in February. The deadly earthquake hit the city on 22 February 2011.

Though Christchurch has suffered in the aftermath of the earthquake, hoteliers in other major cities throughout New Zealand are pushing rates after posting occupancy and demand increases during 2010.