HOTEL NEWS

HILTON WORLDWIDE will open a new Conrad hotel in Chicago in spring next year. The 287-room Conrad Chicago will be a new-build property overlooking North Michigan Avenue on Erie Street. The existing Conrad Chicago on North Rush Street is to become a Starwood Luxury Collection hotel by the end of the year. IHG will open a Hotel Indigo property in Los Angeles next year. The 350-room Hotel Indigo Downtown Los Angeles will be part of the Metropolis mixed-use development at 899 Francisco Street, near the city’s financial district. The group will also open an Intercontinental hotel in Lyon in 2018. MOVENPICK HOTELS AND RESORTS has opened its first hotel in Bangkok. The 297-room Movenpick Hotel Sukhumvit 15 Bangkok offers free wifi, a 24-hour tuk-tuk shuttle service, a restaurant and 330 sqm of meeting space. ROCCO FORTE HOTELS will make its Asia-Pacific debut in 2018 with a Shanghai property. The hotel will be part of the new Longhua International Aviation Service Centre complex in the Xuhui Riverside area, and will have 280 rooms and suites, three restaurants, a spa and pool. Sir Rocco Forte intends to double the number of hotels in the portfolio over the next five years. PREFERRED HOTELS AND RESORTS will gain a number of additions to its portfolio in the coming months. These include the Temple House – part of the Swire Group – in Chengdu in July, Palazzo Versace in Dubai in August, and the Watergate in Washington DC this autumn following a US$125 million refurbishment. THE HOXTON hotel group will open its third London property in 2018. The Hoxton Southwark will have 192 rooms, two restaurants and event space. Soho House Group will run a ground-floor restaurant and a top-floor bar. The group is also opening a property in Amsterdam, its first outside London, in July. HILTON HOTELS AND RESORTS is to launch a property near Dubai’s Al Maktoum International airport in early 2019. The 535-room Hilton Dubai World Central will be close to the airport’s main passenger entrance and to the Dubai Expo 2020 venue. ACCOR has rebranded as Accorhotels to tie in with its website, accorhotels.com.