Hotel Industry News - Development

Marriott International (NYSE: MAR) announced today that it has signed agreements with Prime Hospitality S.A. to manage its first two hotels in the Central African nation of Gabon: an upscale, 250-room Marriott Hotels & Resorts branded hotel and a 40-unit Marriott Executive Apartments extended stay hotel in Libreville.

The collection welcomes The Saint, Blue Moon and Winter Haven Hotels in early 2012, on track to achieve goal of 60 hotels by end of year.

The new hotels are in France, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Thailand. The upscale hotel company of Swiss heritage now has 69 hotels in operation and 31 in development of which nine will open this year.

Macdonald Hotels & Resorts, the UK's largest privately owned hotel operator with over forty 4 and 5 star hotels throughout the UK and Spain, has further increased its market presence by agreeing terms with the owners of the historic 48 bedroom Haycock Hotel in Wansford near Stamford.

Jones Lang LaSalle’s Global Office Index and Global Market Perspective reports point to consistent leasing and rental performance in 2012

Executive Hotels & Resorts announced that it had acquired the non performing first, second and third mortgages secured by the hotel portion in the Mountainside Lodge in Whistler, B.C. and has now completed a debt for equity swap to take over ownership of the hotel and its associated parking.

The luxury, waterfront hotel is scheduled to open in (May) 2014. Originally an Austro-Hungarian naval base, Porto Montenegro has become an illustrious destination for tourists, yacht owners and celebrities.

Investors More Bullish on Cross-Border Transactions

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts signed an agreement with Faisal Bin Qassim Al-Thani & Sons Holding Company W.L.L to manage Shangri-La Hotel, Doha, as well as Traders Hotel, Doha. Both hotels are scheduled to open in 2013.

The multi-million renovation includes a complete redesign of the hotel’s 774 spacious guestrooms, each boasting over 300 square feet.