Lodging Daily News

CHICAGO—Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced that a Hyatt affiliate and affiliates of the Malca family have formed a joint venture to develop and own two hotels in the master planned community of Costa del Este in Panama City, Panama that will be branded as a Hyatt Place and Hyatt House. Hyatt Place Panama City Costa del Este and Hyatt House Panama City Costa del Este will be part of a mixed use development that will also

TEL AVIV, Israel—Atlas Hotels announced that two new boutique hotels will open in Israel this spring. The opening of Arthur Hotel in Jerusalem is set for March 3 and Hotel Bay Club in Haifa will open on March. This will mark the company’s first hotel in Haifa and its second in Jerusalem. Bay Club Haifa is situated midway between Haifa Bay and the peak of Mount Carmel. Housed in a historic building, the hotel offers

GREENWICH, Conn.—Starwood Capital Group, a private investment firm, announced that an investment fund affiliated with Starwood has acquired Principal Hayley Group, a collection of 23 city-center hotels and training venues across the UK and Europe. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The Principal Hayley portfolio currently includes properties offering a combined capacity of approximately 4,000 bedrooms, over 500 meeting rooms, and ability to host over 26,000 delegates per day in key locations. The group

NEW YORK—The 211-suite Residence Inn by Marriott in New York is now open. The building, located at 148 East 48th Street, was formerly the Helmsley Middletowne Hotel, which was in operation from 1928 until May 2010. The Residence Inn New York Manhattan/Midtown East operates as a Marriott franchise. “We are pleased with the continued growth of Residence Inn hotels in the New York City area. This is indeed a very interesting and historic building,” said

CHICAGO—Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group announced the conversion of the Radisson Plaza – Warwick Hotel Philadelphia. The hotel will become the Radisson Blu Warwick Hotel Philadelphia by late summer 2013. The 301-room historic hotel, situated in the Rittenhouse Square district of Philadelphia, will undergo a $17 million renovation that will include a redesign of all guestrooms and corridors, as well as the hotel’s grand lobby to reflect Radisson Blu’s signature style while maintaining the charm and