Harte Holdings Names Interstate to Manage Three Upscale Boutique Hotels in London
ARLINGTON, Va., Dec 09, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ — Interstate Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: IHR), a leading hotel real estate investor and the nation’s largest independent hotel management company, today announced that Harte Holdings, on behalf of Argyll Hotel Group, has awarded management contracts for three hotels in London to Interstate, marking the operator’s entry into one of the world’s great hotel cities. The upscale boutique hotels, all located in central London, include The Royal Park, The Cranley and The Elizabeth. England is the latest addition to Interstate’s growing international portfolio, which also includes Russia, India, Mexico, Belgium, Canada, Ireland and Costa Rica.
Interstate also manages four other hotels in a joint venture with Harte Holdings. „It is particularly gratifying that the source of these contracts is an existing joint venture partner of ours,“ said Thomas F. Hewitt, chairman and chief executive officer. „We teamed up with Harte Holdings in 2008 in a partnership that acquired a portfolio of four U.S. hotels, hotels that we manage for the JV. Over the past 18 months, we have achieved very competitive results at those properties in spite of the historic downturn in the economy and our industry. We consider these new contracts an expression of Harte’s continuing confidence in our ability to manage successfully in any economic climate.“
„In our first hotel joint venture in the U.S., Interstate has proven itself a strong partner and an extremely reliable and capable operator,“ said Donal Kelleher, investment director of Harte Holdings. „They have done an excellent job of managing our JV properties, controlling costs and driving revenue under very challenging circumstances. We have the utmost confidence in their ability to adapt their proven management practices to international markets.“
Leslie Ng, Interstate’s chief investment officer, noted that Interstate Management Services will oversee management of the London properties out of the company’s regional office in Moscow. „England is the fourth European country where we manage a hotel and brings to 10 our total number of European contracts. We are working with Harte on a number of other European opportunities and look forward to growing our platform there.“
The other hotels managed by Interstate for its joint venture with Harte Holdings include the Sheraton Fraser Great Valley near Philadelphia; Sheraton Mahwah, N.J.; Latham Hotel Georgetown, Washington, D.C.; and the Hilton Lafayette, La. Including the three London hotels with 129 total rooms, the seven properties aggregate 1,021 rooms.
About Harte Holdings
Harte Holdings is an Irish-based investment and development company which owns a wide variety of real estate projects in the United Kingdom, Ireland, mainland Europe and the U.S., with a portfolio consisting primarily of hotels, residential, commercial and retail assets in these areas.
About Interstate Hotels & Resorts
Interstate Hotels & Resorts, Inc. and its affiliates manages and/or has ownership interests in a total of 232 hospitality properties with more than 46,000 rooms in 37 states, the District of Columbia, Russia, India, Mexico, Belgium, Canada, Ireland and England. The company has ownership interests in 56 of those properties, including six wholly owned assets. Interstate Hotels & Resorts also has contracts to manage 13 to be built hospitality properties with approximately 3,000 rooms which includes the company’s entre into new markets such as Costa Rica. For more information about Interstate Hotels & Resorts, visit the company’s Web site: ihrco.com.
