Rezidor, Hilton, Scandic unveil new hotels in Europe

Rezidor, the Swedish hotel operator, is opening a new hotel near the Baltic Sea in Germany by the end of 2008 as part of its growth strategy in the country. 'We keep on growing in Germany which is one of our most important home markets', said Kurt Ritter, president & CEO of Rezidor. 'Our German portfolio of hotels in operation and under development now comprises 48 properties with over 10,000 rooms.' The property located in the city of Stralsund comprises 114 rooms, two restaurants, a mall and a wellness centre.

Hilton Hotels, the US hotel chain, also announced the opening this week of new hotels in Europe. The company is boosting its presence in Italy with the opening of two new Hilton Garden Inn properties in Milan Malpensa and Bologna San Lazzaro. 'We launched the brand in Italy two years ago with the Hilton Garden Inn Rome Airport and have since added Florence Novoli, Matera, Milan Malpensa and Bologna San Lazzaro,' said Adrian Kurre, senior vice president, brand marketing for Hilton Garden Inn.

The Hilton Garden Inn Milan Malpensa offers a total of 207 guestrooms and meeting rooms for up to 400 delegates while the Hilton Garden Inn Bologna San Lazzaro offers 152 rooms. The company said it plans to open three additional properties in the Italian cities of Lecce, Bari and Treviso by 2010. In Europe, the company is targeting the opening of 14 new Hilton Garden Inn properties over the next three years across a number of countries, including Poland, Turkey, Germany and the UK.

Private hotel group Scandic said last week it is entering Poland with two hotel openings in Wroclaw and Gdansk. The properties offer 164 and 143 rooms respectively. The openings are part of Scandic's aggressive new growth strategy which aims at opening some 50 hotels in Europe in the next five years.