MHI Hospitality Corporation announced that the Company has completed the acquisition of the 172-room former Radisson Hotel in Hampton, Virginia for approximately $7.75 million, or $45,000 per room. The Company has also entered into a 10-year franchise agreement with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) [(LON: IHG) (NYSE: IHG - News; ADRs)] through its franchising entity, Holiday [...]

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide is to open a W Hotel in Amman after agreeing a deal with Jordanian property developer Saraya. The 280 room property will open in 2011 and it will be located at Saraya’s new headquarters. The W Amman will be the brand’s fourth hotel in the Middle East; a W Hotel [...]

Hotel buyouts are proving a bonanza for mutual funds which snapped up Hilton, Marriott and other hotel stocks after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Private-equity firm Blackstone Group’s (BX.N) $20 billion bid for Hilton Hotels Corp. (HLT.N) on Tuesday sparked a 27 percent rise in shares of the second-biggest U.S. hotel chain over Thursday and Friday, [...]

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announces today that The Westin Roco Ki Beach & Golf Resort is on schedule to open in May 2008. Destined to become one of the world’s most spectacular luxury properties, the 337-room resort will be located directly on a dedicated four-mile stretch of white sand beach in Punta [...]

When checking in to my room at the Jury’s Inn in Limerick, Ireland recently, I noticed a coffee trolley labeled “Il Barista” in the lobby. It was adjacent to the reception desk and had a sleek espresso machine and mini-pastries. Mind you, there was no warm-blooded barista in sight. But my hotel, it seems, was [...]

Starwood Capital Group today announced that the recently launched “1” Hotel and Residences, the world’s first luxury, eco-friendly global hotel brand, will open New York City’s first five-star green hotel on West 40th Street in Manhattan, across from Bryant Park. The “1” Hotel and Residences will be part of a proposed 31-story mixed-use green tower [...]

Earlier this month, the Edge Group announced that it was canceling the planned W Las Vegas mixed-use project. First proposed in 2005 for a 2008 opening, the project plan included 3,000 condo hotel units, 10 restaurants and nightclubs, a 75,000 square foot casino, and 300,000 square feet of convention and meeting space.
The project had grown [...]

Starwood Hotels & Resorts has signed eleven new franchise agreements with ITC Limited. As a result, travelers in India will soon have access to 23 hotels in the country under the Sheraton, Westin, The Luxury Collection and Le Méridien brand umbrellas.
As part of the agreement and following significant renovations in recent months, seven existing Sheraton [...]

Starwood Hotels & Resorts has signed an agreement with Argus Developments (a subsidiary of Tuscan Corporation) to develop the first aloft hotel in Australia, the aloft Sydney Airport, O’Riordan Street. Located in Sydney, the 161 room hotel is conveniently located within one mile of the Sydney International Airport, on O’Riordan Street in Mascot, Sydney. The [...]

Starwood Hotels and Resorts said yesterday that its chief executive, Steven J. Heyer, had resigned after he and the company’s board fought over his management style, surprising analysts who said the company’s overall strategy was sound.
The change at the top suggests that the company could be sold, given the favorable buyout environment and the hotel [...]

Unionized workers at the Westin Seattle, the city’s largest hotel, plan to announce today that they’ve negotiated significant pay and benefit increases — a move that they hope will thrust them into the middle class and have a profound impact on the regional service industry.
The national Hotel Workers Rising movement, which has chosen Seattle as [...]

U.S. hoteliers and casino operators have set their sights on expanding overseas, particularly in Asia, but opinions differ on which sectors present the least economic and political risk.
Hilton Hotels Corp. is targeting India and China as it reaches further outside the United States, following the acquisition last year of its international namesake.
“The international business is [...]