Two up-scale NH Hotel Group properties, in historic Venice and on the glass island of Murano, are a benchmark for hospitality and bleisure tourism in Italy. 

“We want our guests to have authentic experiences” 

In the NH Collection Venezia Grand Hotel Palazzo dei Dogi, a 5-star, and in the NH Collection Venezia Murano Villa, 4 stars, it is easy to recognise the two souls of the city: that of the grand noble palaces on the Grand Canal and historic Venice with the Murano glassworks.

"In both these NH Collection properties we want our guests to have authentic experiences, on the one hand in a noble Venetian palazzo and, on the other, in a historic glassworks on the island of Murano," said Marco Gilardi, operations director NH Hotel Group Italy and USA.

Nh Collection Murano Villa

High ceilings, chandeliers and elegant bathrooms

In the Cannaregio district, in a wonderfully romantic corner of Venice, the NH Collection Venezia Grand Hotel Palazzo dei Dogi is a historic 5-star of great charm.  The 64 rooms are a perfect blend of elegance and classicism with high ceilings, chandeliers finely crafted by master Murano glassmakers, and elegant bathrooms. The Il Giardino Segreto Restaurant is a culinary experience that combines the authenticity of Venetian flavours with international specialties, accompanied by fine wines and champagnes. 

An NH hotel in an old Murano glass factory

The 4-star superior NH Collection Venezia Murano Villa is located inside the historic Murano glassworks called the Fornace De Majo.  In total it has 104 rooms - some of which have views over the lagoon and the islands of Sant'Erasmo and Le Vignole - from superior to premium, as well as junior duplex and laguna view suites. There are also five meeting rooms which are modulable and adaptable according to the needs of guests and clients. 

The mandate to find new financial partners for the Rocco Forte group has been assigned to Rotschild. 

Potential Gulf investors or Lvmh?

The prize being  49% of the company, which is also linked to Cassa Depositi e Prestiti through Cdp Equity, which in 2014 bought 23% of the British hotel group for €76 million. But the pact between Cdp and Sir Rocco Forte expires next February. Cassa Depositi e Prestiti could thus take advantage of the sale to monetise its investment. Potential buyers, according to the daily La Repubblica, could be from the Gulf, including Saudi Arabia's Pif, as well as the Lvmh group, which already owns Belmond.

The Rocco Forte Group could be worth over €1 billion 

Currently Rocco Forte has 14 hotels, 20 villas and 42 starred bars and restaurants with over 1,500 rooms. The company is set to close 2022 with revenues in the region of £300 million and around sixty million in gross operating margins. Recent openings, including Athens and Mikonos, are expected to boost gross operating margins by another €15 million in 2023. With these figures, the valuation of the Rocco Forte Group could reach over one billion euro. 

The Group continues to add new hotels and apartments

The operation would also have significant repercussions in Italy given that the British company already has three properties in Rome (including a series of apartments), two in Sicily and one in Puglia, and ambitious plans for two new openings in Milan, the Carlton Hotel and luxury apartments in Via della Spiga, as well as new properties in Naples and Sardinia.

The Unahotels Le Terrazze Treviso is the fifth property in the Veneto region and the first outside Venice for the Una group.

Apartments, penthouses, and a large outdoor square

The affiliation was announced by the company's general manager Fabrizio Gaggio. The new addition brings the Unahotels’franchising project to 15 properties. Located in a strategic position, just a few minutes from the centre of Treviso, the motorway and the airport, the new property is a 4-star superior design business and spa hotel. With 156 rooms, apartments and penthouses of different types, the Spa Le Terrazze wellness centre, a gym, a restaurant and a car park, there is also a large outdoor square that polarises life at the Unahotels Le Terrazze. 

Meeting rooms and advanced management technologies

Among other services the hotel also has a business centre consisting of three meeting rooms that can accommodate from 25 to 85 people. The building was redesigned with a view to reducing its environmental impact, and includes advanced management technologies in the different areas of the hotel, with the apartments governed by automation, control, management and telecommunications systems. 

For information: https://www.leterrazzehr.it/en

Financing for €145 million for the Bluserena group has arrived from the Italian Unicredit and the Iberian Caixa banks. 

Development plans are going ahead

This is according to the daily business newspaper Milano Finanza which says the development plan for the Italian brand, which the Maresca family sold to the Spaniards of Azora European Hotel & Leisure in 2021 for €280, is proceeding apace.

Renovating hotels and resorts for international markets

The new capital should partly serve to refinance debt, while around 35 million would be dedicated to investments, mainly to renovate  hotels and resorts, and adapt them to international markets. Bluserena currently boasts a portfolio of 13 properties, eight of which it owns with another five under management, in locations such as Sardinia, Sicily, Puglia, Abruzzo, Piedmont and Calabria. Just a few days ago Marcello Cicalò took over as the new CEO.

Meliá has announced the debut of the InnSide brand in Sicily with two new properties opening in 2024.

146 rooms and a rooftop terrace with sea views

This also marks the launch of a partnership with Logitravel for the creation and marketing of dynamic packages integrated in the MeliáRewards Loyalty Program. Located in the south-eastern part of the Mediterranean island, the InnSide Noto will have 146 rooms, numerous food and drink outlets as well as a swimming pool, a beach club, a gym and spaces for meetings and events. There is also a 1,500 square metre rooftop terrace overlooking the sea.

Four properties in Sicily 

The InnSide Cala Rossa will be built in the coastal area of ​​Terrasini and will have 114 keys, a lounge, a swimming pool, several food and drink outlets, a spa, event spaces and a beach club. With the announcement of the two Sicilian properties, to which the Meliá Taormina and Meliá Siracusa will also be added in 2024, the number of properties belonging to the Spanish group currently active or in the pipeline in Italy is now 11. 

Meliá Escapes is currently available in nine countries

The Iberian company has also launched Meliá Escapes which, thanks to the partnership with Logitravel, will offer the hotel clients access a vast and dynamic range of flights, experiences, car rental services, transfers, excursions, attractions and more. Meliá Escapes is currently available in nine countries from Italy to Spain, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Portugal, Mexico, Canada and the United States. And there are other countries in the pipeline. 

The Timi Ama of Villasimius will be managed by Almar, whose management was recently acquired by the Hnh Hospitality Group.

Formerly an Accor Pullman property

The Sardinian property is the result of years of historical permanence under the Accor house's Pullman brand. After the Venetian Jesolo Resort & Spa, and the Sicilian Giardino di Costanza in Mazara del Vallo, the Villasimius property will be the company's third Almar.

Balancing the needs of leisure and congress tourism 

“We are especially proud of this new management under the Almar brand in Sardinia, which represents a new and important milestone for us in the luxury resort segment,” says Luca Boccato, CEO of Hnh Hospitality. “Following the success of the Almar Giardino di Costanza, which opened in May, we have decided to expand while also diversifying our offer. The new property, in one of Sardinia's most popular tourist destinations, balances the needs of leisure tourism with those of congress tourism and well-being.”

The Almar Timi Ama Resort & Spa overlooks a nature reserve teeming with pink flamingos, and the beach is reached via the property's park, which is also a protected area. The resort has 280 rooms on three floors, each with a balcony or terrace. There are also four restaurants and bars, an outdoor swimming pool and an indoor pool dedicated to the spa, as well as an adjacent beach. 

Meeting rooms and an outdoor amphitheatre

In addition to the Thalasso spa, which is powered by a sea-connected system, the complex includes a fitness centre with tennis, multifunctional, and beach volleyball courts. Finally, thanks to four meeting rooms with a maximum capacity of 350 guests and an external amphitheatre with 400 seats, the Timi Ama will devote ample space to congresses and events.

“Our new asset is in line with market trends”

“We are delighted to have reached this agreement with an important Italian operator in the 5-star resort segment,” say Timi Ama s.p.a. directors Simone Festuccia and Pierpaolo Mazzella. “The investment made over the next two years will be a significant opportunity for our company to improve a strategic asset that is in line with new market trends for a rapidly growing segment and destination.” 

The B&B Hotel Venezia is a project of some €85 million that will be implemented by the transalpine group in collaboration with the asset management company Blue SGR.

We consider the Venetian property a real springboard for our further expansion in Italy and beyond - explains the CEO and president of B&B Hotels Italia, Valerio Duchini -. Especially as it will be the last possible development in Venice for a long time, given that the municipality has recently frozen authorizations for new hotel openings.

Many facilities including a roof terrace

The hotel is expected to open in July 2024 on an area of ​​15,576 sqm once used for parking. Located on the island of Tronchetto it will have 406 rooms of various types and 226 reserved parking spaces. Added to this will be a market adjacent to the reception area, a bistro bar, a restaurant, a roof terrace overlooking the city and meeting rooms capable of accommodating around 150 delegates.

Employing local staff and promoting the destination

Great attention will also be paid to social and environmental governance policies.

The hotel will have 200KW photovoltaic panels distributed over an area of ​​ one thousand sqm as well as ten charging stations for electric cars - continues Duchini.  -We will try to give jobs to local people, and we will endeavour to promote the destination. Of course for Venice this is not so difficult, but as a company we do it everywhere, even in lesser-known destinations, guaranteeing important returns to the locations in which we operate.

Major European hospitality players are changing models and rebranding. Like 21 Way of Living which has become 21 House of Stories. 

A move to convey the project’s community spirit

Following in the footsteps of The Student Hotel, which recently changed its name to The Social Hub to better reflect its focus on the community concept, with the new name Alessandro and Mauro Benetton's brand hopes to more effectively convey the project's community spirit. Having started with a first property in Milan's Città Studi, 21 House of Stories is a place to stay, work, and socialize; a shared dimension with an open community of interconnected people who share authentic experiences and circulate ideas, energies, and stories.

High occupancy levels, concerts and events

The concept is currently doing extremely well. Since its reopening in March, the hotel has had an occupancy rate of more than 90%. This is in addition to significant participation in concerts and events, as well as consistent presences in coworking spaces and the bistro. The positive results of the Milanese property, as well as the planned launch of a new Milanese project on the Navigli, have materialised the need for a qualitative leap in terms of brand and storytelling. As a result, the project's new name and logo were created in collaboration with the FM Studio agency.

“We are evolving in a more lifestyle direction” 

“The launch of the second property's marketing represents the ideal moment to update the brand in the light of what we learned in the first two years of activity,” explains Nicola Accurso, managing director of 21 House of Stories. “Our concept is evolving in a more lifestyle and disruptive direction, allowing guests to mix private and professional spheres in an extremely stimulating environment.”

Palazzo Maria Formosa is the new 5-star Venetian hotel, opened last October from the conversion of Palazzo Donà. It is located on the Campo Santa Maria Formosa, and is the first investment in Venice by Singaporean entrepreneur Kwong Ching Chiat. The property has 26 rooms, a bar, a restaurant and a spa, and is managed by the Calzavara family of hoteliers from Jesolo.

The Municipality of Venice sold Palazzo Donà for €4 million

Palazzo Donà was the seat of the social services of the Municipality of Venice which sold the building a few years ago for €4 million to Venetian Immobiliare (Ive), giving them the possibility of selling the asset to a private buyer. And it was quickly sold to Grandeur Oxley, which subsequently began a series of works for a total of around €6.2 million, largely concluded in July 2018. The outbreak of the pandemic then slowed down the search for a manager.

The management to be taken over by Relegance - The Unexpected Collection? 

Grandeur Oxley has also purchased Palazzo Poerio Papadopoli from the Municipality. It is near Piazzale Roma, where the construction of another 4/5-star hotel is planned, but at the moment work has not started. However word would have it that it will be managed by Antonio Onorato, founder of the new Relegance - The Unexpected Collection, which includes the Palazzina Grassi in Venice and the Rosapetra Spa Resort in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

With the opening of Casa Baglioni a few days after the group's return to Milan, the company led by Guido Polito ends up under the control of the Mexicans of Palace Resorts, the Luxury Resort powerhouse which acquires 75% of the Italian company. The agreement will allow the Baglioni brand to expand further on the U.S. market, which accounts for roughly 70% of Palace Resorts' business, which currently is ten properties in Mexico and the Caribbean.

Further expansion in Europe 

For the Chapur family-controlled group it means adding a luxury brand with a consolidated presence in Italy, as well as in London and the Maldives. The aim is to expand further in Europe, as well as through acquisitions operated by Palace Resorts' own real estate division.

Key international destinations

"I am honoured that the Chapur family has recognised Baglioni Hotels & Resorts as one of the leading European luxury brands, and has seen the brand's development potential in Italy and other key international destinations, -  says Guido Polito, the Italian company's CEO. - Choosing to remain at the helm of Baglioni will allow me, along with vice president Giuliano Rocchi and the entire management team to carry on the work started by my father Roberto."

Increasing investments in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East

"We will increase our investments in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, while bringing our Le Blanc and Moon Palace brands to these regions," says Gibran Chapur, executive vice president of Palace Resorts.