HOTEL NEWS

MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL has opened the first London property under its Moxy brand. Located on Dockside Road, close to Royal Albert DLR station, the new-build Moxy London Excel has 164 rooms. Marriott’s Le Méridien brand (formerly Starwood) has unveiled the refurbished and rebranded Le Méridien Visconti Rome, in the city’s Prati district. Previously operating as the independent Visconti Palace Hotel, it has 240 rooms. PREMIER INN has reached the milestone of 750 UK properties, with the opening of the Premier Inn London Chiswick. The 167-room hotel is located in Hogarth Business Park. Premier Inn aims to have 85,000 bedrooms in the UK by 2020. HYATT is to open a Hyatt Centric hotel in Madrid. Due to be launched by the fourth quarter of this year, the 159-room Hyatt Centric Gran Via Madrid will be one of the first openings for the lifestyle brand in Europe. Hyatt Centric La Rosière is due to be unveiled in the French Alps at a similar time. HILTON has opened a Doubletree property near New York’s Times Square. Located at 350 West 40th Street, the 37-storey new-build Doubletree by Hilton New York Times Square West has 612 rooms, an all-day restaurant and a rooftop lounge. ACCORHOTELS has agreed a joint venture with Turkey’s Rixos Hotels. Some 15 Rixos properties will be integrated into the Accorhotels network, with five city-centre hotels reflagged to Accorhotels brands. Forthcoming Rixos properties in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and the Maldives will form part of the deal. Accorhotels is also expanding its Brazil portfolio with an agreement to manage 26 properties currently owned or run by Brazilian company BHG by the end of 2019. HARD ROCK HOTELS is scheduled to open the 220-room Hard Rock Hotel Atlanta in the US city’s downtown Castleberry Hill neighbourhood in spring next year. DUSIT INTERNATIONAL plans to more than double its portfolio over the next three to four years. The Bangkok-based group will open a total of 40 properties across 21 countries, in destinations including Istanbul, Singapore and Yangon. INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS GROUP is to open a Holiday Inn property in the 430 Pitt Street development in Sydney’s central business district. The Holiday Inn Sydney Central will have 305 rooms when it opens in 2020. THE ADDRESS BOULEVARD has opened in Downtown Dubai. The five-star hotel has 196 rooms, plus 532 serviced apartments. Its lounge and pool area both overlook the Burj Khalifa, and it also has a restaurant, a Club lounge and a spa.