Hilton International plans to open up to 40 new hotels in Germany over the next two to three years as part of its European expansion strategy. The hotel group is looking at 15-20 locations for its upmarket Garden Inn format and a similar number for its lower-budget Hampton accommodations, senior vice-president of development in Europe Patrick Fitzgibbon told an investors' forum in Frankfurt onThursday.
Hilton International plans to open up to 40 new hotels in Germany over the next two to three years as part of its European expansion strategy. The hotel group is looking at 15-20 locations for its upmarket Garden Inn format and a similar number for its lower-budget Hampton accommodations, senior vice-president of development in Europe Patrick Fitzgibbon told an investors' forum in Frankfurt onThursday.
The first Garden Inn opened its doors last year in Stuttgart and another is planned in Frankfurt in the course of 2007. Other locations under consideration include Berlin, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Dortmund, Cologne, Wiesbaden and Heidelberg. Most of the new hotels will be built from scratch, Fitzgibbon said.
Hilton will not invest directly in the hotels but act as manager or franchisor for a period of about 20 years. The group's existing 15 hotels in Germany are operated on a similar basis.
