InterContinental Hotels Group has signed a franchise agreement that will bring its Hotel Indigo brand to Russia next year. The 119-room hotel Indigo St. Petersburg Tchaikovsky is scheduled to open in summer 2012 and is owned by Vega Ltd. It will be located in a 101-year-old town house, which is currently an independent hotel. When it opens, it will also include a restaurant and bar. There are currently 38 Hotel Indigo properties open worldwide with an additional 60 in various stages of development.

Mercure is continuing to strengthen its network by opening two hotels in Spain. After a large-scale operation involving 24 new hotels in the United Kingdom, Mercure is continuing to strengthen its network. Indeed, the brand has just opened two hotels in the country, one on the Mediterranean coast and the other in the high plateaux of the North. In the historic centre of Burgos, the Rice Burgos has joined the Mercure brand. Burgos, a city in northern Spain, situated at an altitude of 900 metres, is considered the cradle of Old Castile. An ideal destination for tourism adepts who visit the city for its cathedral classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, along with its museums and many religious edifices, most of which are located within easy walking distance of the hotel. With its 50 rooms, the Mercure Burgos Rice offers classic British decor and all the modern comfort of a 4-star hotel. Its privileged location and facilities for hosting events and meetings also make the Rice Burgos a hotel of choice for business travellers, who can also take advantage of the gastronomic food service offerings. Another place, another atmosphere. The Mercure Thalasia Costa de Murcia has just opened its doors on the shores of the Mediterranean. The 4-star establishment, which is a franchised hotel, is located in the heart of San Pedro del Pinatar Nature Park. In addition to its 211 rooms, two restaurants, three bars, an outdoor swimming pool together with a solarium and 1,000 square metres of meeting space, the hotel offers one of Spain’s most modern, eco-friendly seawater therapy centres.

Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts has announced the official opening of the 260-room Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel in the Ghanaian capital Accra.Originally built and presented as a gift by the United Kingdom to Ghana after gaining independence in 1957, the completely rebuilt Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel Accra is ideally located downtown in the central business district, close to Government ministries, major financial institutions, Accra International Conference Centre and only 7km from Kotoka International Airport. The hotel blends every aspect of 21st century excellence alongside original artwork from contemporary Ghanaian artists with stunning wooden carvings of animals, artefacts and design features. The lobby’s striking chandelier and the rich hues and colours of the hotel’s tapestries and paintings evoke the magic and mystery of West African culture.

Global Staff Movement

Millennium and Copthorne International Limited is pleased to announce Mr Andrew Tan’s appointment as General Manager of Orchard Hotel Singapore. Taking the helm at Orchard Hotel Singapore, Mr Tan will be responsible for the overall business operations and continued success of this 656-room hotel situated in the heart of the famous Orchard Road and home to well known and celebrated Chinese restaurant Hua Ting and Orchard Café. A dynamic hotelier who has been with the M&C group since 1999, Mr Tan brings with him a wealth of international experience spanning across 17 years in the hospitality industry of U.K, Singapore and Australia.  He has accumulated extensive knowledge in the fields of MICE, Sales & Marketing, Revenue Management, F&B and Catering operations, having worked in various senior management positions at several international hotels. Most recently, Mr Tan was the General Manager of Millennium Gloucester and Millennium Bailey’s Hotel in London.

Pegasus Solutions has named David Millili chief web officer, a new role he will hold concurrent to his position as chief executive officer of Open Hospitality®, a Pegasus Solutions company. In this role, Millili will assume responsibility for Pegasus’ complete online presence, including Pegasus Solutions, Utell® Hotels & Resorts, Open Hospitality and www.hotelbook.com_^TM. Millili has led Open Hospitality for the last eight years, during which time, it has become a recognized industry leader in providing hotel Internet marketing services, including design, website development and hosting, mobile platforms, online search and marketing. A former hotel general manager, Millili has more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry, becoming a sought-after source in the online marketing of hotels. In addition to founding Open Hospitality, which was recently acquired by Pegasus, Millili co-founded Timeless Hospitality. At Open Hospitality, he provides a diverse client base of more than 600 hotels in 38 countries with comprehensive online hotel Internet services.

Other Related News

Renting a house for the London Olympics in 2012 is proving to be a more popular accommodation choice for some overseas groups and families looking for a place to stay during the 2012 games than others, according to London Property Rental 2012 whose experience has found significant regional differences in how nations are choosing to find their ideal Olympic accommodation. London Property Rental 2012 findings are backed by an April 2011 report from Visit Britain that investigated accommodation choices made by inbound visitors to the UK. According to Carol Fox, owner at London Property Rental, “A large proportion of enquiries for our luxury Olympic 2012 lets have came from the US or France and Benelux regions, so we decided to follow this up to see if there are regional differences in what type of accommodation for London 2012 visitors are most interested in booking. What we found appears to show a general trend for the French and Spanish to travel in large family groups and value the opportunity of cooking their own meals whilst sharing the communal benefits of renting comfortable homes for the games. Visitors from the United States are used to booking luxury homes for rent by owners, and enjoy the flexibility of self-catering and eating out combined with the extra facilities offered by letting a house for the London Olympics including, satellite TV, fast broadband, garden and free parking. Whereas German and Dutch visitors seem to be more interested in finding functional accommodation such as that offered by hostels, B&B’s or camping.” London Property Rental 2012′s experience is reflected in findings from Visit Britain that investigated accommodation choices made by inbound visitors to the UK. The report aggregated and analyzed data from 2001 onwards to get a robust view of accommodation data on a market by market level. Amongst the findings are that ‘visitors from the Netherlands have a much higher propensity to be found camping or in mobile homes (5 per cent)’ and ‘Recent years have seen Glamping – a sort of luxury camping is particularly popular with the Dutch’. Oxford Economics estimates in an independent report that around 450,000 visitors will stay in London during the 2012 Olympics. “Next year’s games will see the highest concentration of global visitors that London has ever experienced. We are finding many visitors are choosing to escape the congestion and hotel room price hikes of up to 50 per cent by opting for the convenience and cost efficiency of a ‘home from home’ over a hotel room for London 2012″ say Fox.

Jetstar is now offering its passengers iPads. The cutting edge technology allows viewing of movies, TV shows and music, as well as an assortment of games, e-magazines and e-books, all enhanced by the high resolution screen and premium sound system of the iPad. iPads are being launched on selected Jetstar flights today, and will be rolled out across the Australian domestic, trans Tasman and short haul international services from Australia and New Zealand in the coming weeks. Passengers flying longer than two hours will be able to hire an iPad from $10-$15 per flight. Jetstar will roll out initially 3,000 iPads with plans to increase this number once the iPads are placed on Jetstar’s Asia network. “Jetstar is proud to be the world’s first airline to entertain its customers with cutting-edge iPad technology,” said Jetstar Group Chief Executive Officer, Bruce Buchanan. “Doing things first and doing them differently are key to Jetstar’s success. We’ve listened to our customers and know inflight entertainment is an important part of their overall travel experience, so we’ve made sure the new iPads offer the very best viewing experience.” “Jetstar’s iPad roll-out will join other recent innovations like SMS boarding that offer customers flexibility and convenience. As the first Australasian carrier to fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Jetstar is currently assessing what inflight entertainment options it will offer on these aircraft from 2013,” Mr Buchanan added.

British holidaymakers will continue to seek ‘more for less’, according to a travel report looking at 2012 trends. According to the third annual Travel Insight Report from travel communications agency Four bgb, consumers ‘are likely to continue to shop with a recessionary mindset’. The UK outbound industry is still worth £21bn annually, said the report, and travellers will be looking for both ‘value and new experiences’. Debbie Hindle, Four bgb managing director, said: ‘It’s clear we are in a long slow emergence from recession. ‘We’re seeing evidence of more consumers shopping around before making a purchasing decision and then actively wanting more for their holiday – that’s not just a question of saving money, but a question of getting the best possible experiences into the time they have away.’ The report highlights top sectors for the travel industry to target – including ‘experiential travellers’ wanting more than a fly-and-flop holiday, luxury travellers, weddings, honeymoons, single holidaymakers and cultural travellers. It also offers five social media tips for 2012 including working with bloggers and opinion formers and making sure social activity goes beyond Facebook – such as engaging with the 20m British people now using YouTube.