Lodging Daily News

NEW YORK—Loews Hotels & Resorts, a wholly owned-subsidiary of Loews Corporation, announced that the company completed the acquisition of the 225-room Back Bay Hotel in Boston. Located at the corner of Berkeley and Stuart Streets, the former Doyle Collection property has immediately been converted to the Loews Hotels brand. Loews Hotels plans an approximate $8 million renovation scheduled to begin in the fall. “The Loews Boston Back Bay Hotel is a distinctive property,” said Paul

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) has joined forces with Clean the World Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization that collects and recycles used soap and bottled amenities from hotels, to offer AH&LA members an exclusive additional five percent discount per room. More than 1,700 hotels across North America currently participate in the program. Since 2009, Clean the World has distributed more than 12 million bars of soap to homeless shelters and in countries suffering

Bethesda, Md.—Marriott International announced plans to open a new 150-room Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in Lima, South America’s third largest city, under an agreement with Inversiones La Rioja, S.A., a Peruvian corporation which owns the existing 300-room JW Marriott Lima and 153-room JW Marriott Cuzco. The hotel will be situated in Lima’s upscale Miraflores neighborhood. “The new Courtyard by Marriott in Lima will be a significant milestone in our rapid expansion across Latin America,” remarked

MIAMI, Fl.—IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) announced signings of two new Holiday Inn hotels in Colombia. The new properties—to be located in the northeast region’s cities of Bucaramanga and Cucuta—will bring IHG’s hotel pipeline in Colombia to 5 hotels. The Holiday Inn Bucaramanga and The Holiday Inn Cucuta, scheduled to open in 2014 will add 285 rooms to IHG’s existing hotel portfolio in Colombia, which currently includes four open Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels.

SYDNEY, Australia—Hilton Worldwide signed a multi-unit management agreement with BG Group of Hotels to manage four hotels, marking the company’s entry into the Northern Territory and the introduction of the DoubleTree by Hilton brand into Australia. The properties, currently operating and subject to conversion works, will join Hilton Cairns as a portfolio of five BG Group of Hotels properties being operated by Hilton Worldwide. The hotel’s include the 235-room Hilton Darwin; the 197-room DoubleTree by