STARWOOD HOTELS AND RESORTS is to open the W Taipei at the end of the year. The property will have 405 rooms and more than 2,000m2 of meeting space.
STARWOOD HAS ALSO OPENED the 321-room Sheraton Brooklyn next to the New York borough's MetroTech Center. In a business district that encompasses the US District Courthouse, Chase Manhattan Bank, and Morgan Stanley, the property has 400m2 of meeting space.
São Paulo-based travel management company Copastur Viagens e Turismo, one of Brazil's largest TMCs, has joined the ATP International Group. The ATPI partnership now has 44 offices in 26 countries.
Carlson Wagonlit Travel has bought Pennsylvania-based Gateway Travel Management. Gateway's staff of 80 handles air transactions worth an annual US$160 million for a Midwest and eastern seaboard client base.
Flybe launches services from Gatwick to the Breton commercial hub of Nantes on July 15. The airline will operate six flights a week (every day except Saturday), with 78-seat Q400 aircraft.
Hogg Robinson Group has named Viajes El Corte Ingles (ECI) as its new partner in Spain and Portugal.
US budget hotel chain Red Roof Inn is offering free wi fi internet access and free telephone calls and faxes within the US. The group has nearly 350 properties nationwide.
INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS GROUP has signed five properties in China; the 290-room Crowne Plaza Changchun Noble and 217-room Holiday Inn Beijing Sifang (both opening in 2012); the 300-room Crowne Plaza Kunming West and 200-room InterContinental Haikou (opening in 2014); and the InterContinental Changchun (opening in late 2015 with 300 rooms).
MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL'S first hotel in the Balkans, the 180-room Skopje Marriott, opens in the Macedonian capital in 2013.
ACCOR has opened its sixth budget Etap property in Belgium, the 184-room Etap Bruges Center.
FIRST FIVE-STAR HOTEL FOR YORK
YORK'S FIRST FIVE-STAR property, the £25m, 107-room Cedar Court Grand Hotel & Spa, has opened for business. The city centre hotel features a restaurant, a cocktail bar, a whisky lounge, meeting rooms for up to 120 delegates and - from this month - its own spa.
PREMIER INN INVESTS £12M IN LIVERPOOL ONE
WHITBREAD HOTELS & RESTAURANTS has announced plans for a 186-room Premier Inn in Liverpool's Liverpool One development. Under the deal with international property company Grosvenor, Whitbread will buy the freehold of the 100,000sq ft site and invest around £12m in the development.
The hotel will occupy more than three-quarters of the space, on four floors . The property is expected to come on stream in autumn 2012, taking Premier's Liverpool city centre room count above the 500 mark.
DOUBLE TREE FOR LINCOLN
A 115-ROOM DOUBLETREE by Hilton hotel is scheduled to open in Lincoln's city centre in 2011. The new-build property will feature a rooftop restaurant, bar, fitness centre, conference and event space, and on-site car parking.