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🏨 Whitbread PLC plans to convert Capital House in central Edinburgh into a 195-room Premier Inn hotel. The redevelopment involves a 65,350 sqm building near Lothian Road with a bar and restaurant on the ground floor. Investment exceeds £21 million (€24.7 million). Submitted to Edinburgh City Council on May 2, 2025, it aims to create additional hotel capacity at Festival Square. Expected to welcome over 56,000 guests annually, generating £8.1 million (€9.5 million) in external spending, with half benefiting local downtown businesses, and create over 30 new hospitality jobs.

📅 Google Wallet is set to integrate ZK-proofs for privacy-focused digital identity, first in the UK then the USA, with technology developed by Ligero and made open-source. Vitruvian Partners acquires Great Rail Journeys, a British travel company founded in 1973, from Duke Street, aiming to make it a global leader for senior travel. AmTrav incorporates ATPCO and Renacen's 3D cabin tours, with 83% of business travelers valuing 360° seat view before booking. Cloudbeds partners with STAAH to offer real-time data synchronization and enriched reporting for hotel management. Google Adsense ads for travel will now appear in AI search platform results, available to services like iAsk, founded in 2022.

🏠 Paris, Nice, and Marseille led the Spring 2025 holiday season in French hotel occupancy. Paris boasted a RevPAR of €181.8, Nice €131.1, and Marseille €74.6, supporting the Eastern Mediterranean area's dynamic at €109.3. Coastal regions outside the English Channel's €90.9 RevPAR struggled, with figures not exceeding €65. Strasbourg and Lyon performed well with RevPARs of €72.3 and €71.4, respectively, while other cities ranged from Nantes at €47.8 to Bordeaux at €65.2. RevPAR growth saw Lyon leading with +12.2%, followed by Nice's +10.2% and Paris's +9.3%, with Nantes being the exception, showing a -2.1% decline.

📚 Momento Capital and Mata Capital partner to acquire a majority stake in Roof, a French student housing operator, aiming to create a large-scale student housing platform in France. Momento Capital expands into the student housing sector, leveraging investment and asset management expertise while Mata Capital offers capital deployment and structuring capabilities. The plan involves deploying up to €150 million to acquire, renovate, and manage over 1,000 student housing units. An initial investment of €20 million in equity and €50 million in debt has been secured for the first assets, focusing on transforming buildings into community residences with workspaces and gyms.

🏨 Hospitality ON lists new hotel openings and upcoming inaugurations globally, providing a map and key details such as location, style, brand, and room count. The list is updated every 10 days and includes hotels from groups, chains, and networks. Color-coded labels indicate if a hotel opened this week (yellow), will open later in the year (blue), has been rebranded (green), or is a signed project set to open in the future (orange).

🏨 BWH Hotels acquired seven independent hotels in the UK, including the 100-room Best Western Sheffield City Hotel and the 37-room Best Western Ebbw Vale Hotel with on-site dining facilities. The luxury portfolio expanded with Manchester's 32-room Forty Seven Hotel featuring Asha's restaurant, Peterman cocktail bar, and the 36-room Velvet Hotel's bar and brasserie. The Kings Arms in Christchurch joined the WorldHotels Distinctive collection, while the 41-room Lakeland Kendal in Cumbria and the Casa Hotel in Yateley, Hampshire, became part of the Sure Hotel Collection. This growth aligns with BWH Hotels' goal to add 100 properties in five years.

🏖️ Var Tourisme hosts "Les Eclaireurs du Tourisme" in Fréjus on May 17, 2025, featuring speakers Luc Ferry and Raphaël Enthoven. The event focuses on Artificial Intelligence in tourism and aims to address major sector challenges. Supported by Le Figaro, Groupe Nice-Matin, and Espaces Tourisme, this national event is led by Guillaume Decard, President of Var Tourisme and Vice-President of the Var Departmental Council.

🏨 Germain Hotels, Canada's premier national family-owned hotel group with 22 establishments, secured $160M funding for expansion. The group, founded by Jean-Yves Germain and Christiane Germain, is now aided by the next generation—Marie Pier (VP Sales & Marketing), Hugo (VP Operations), Laurie (VP Teams & Culture), and Clarah (Customer Experience). With existing ventures beyond Quebec including Alberta, they aim for a significant presence in Vancouver by 2029, backed by Quebec's financial institutions.

🏕 Les Entreprises du Voyage and Civitatis launched the first semi-annual Index of tourist activities, marking a major step for the French market. The global market for tourist activities is estimated at $179 billion in 2024, expected to reach $264.4 billion by 2030. 63% of travelers claim that the quality and diversity of activities directly influence their destination choice. Activities are now central to the travel experience, influencing itinerary construction and revenue generation for agencies.

🎉 At 115 meters high, the Skybar Paris at Pullman Paris Montparnasse offers a panoramic view of the city and the Eiffel Tower. Open every day from 6pm, it features eclectic music, DJ sets every night, and monthly Mundo parties. Access is for adults only with an elegant dress code required.