Jumeirah In Talks To Acquire French Hotels

Dubai Holding’s newly re-branded hotel chain, Jumeirah, is negotiating the possible acquisition of a number of hotels in Europe, according to reports.

A recent report suggests Jumeirah and Saudi billionaire Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal Bin Abdul Aziz are interested in buying the Hotel de Crillon near Paris’s Champs Elysees.

Starwood Capital acquired control of the hotel’s owner, Societe du Louvre, when it bought out Taittinger, owner of the champagne house, for nearly 1.2 billion euros ($1.42 billion) in July.

“Jumeirah also had its eye on the Hotel Martinez in the French Riviera resort of Cannes, but could face competition from the Dorchester Group, owners of Hotel Plaza Athenee and Hotel Meurice in Paris,” the report said.

When contacted by Gulf News, a Jumeirah spokes-person declined comment on the developments. But she did not deny the accuracy of the information. She said. “We are also not saying ‘No’.”

Al Waleed already owns the George V, also near the Champs Elysees, and Jumeirah owns a string of hotels in Dubai, including the sail-shaped, 321-metre Burj Al Arab, and The Carlton Tower in London.

Gerald Lawless, chief executive of Jumeirah, at a recent press conference, said the company aims to manage more than 40 new hotels in the next few years to become a global entity.

Among those who have signed the guestbook at Crillon, where the top suite costs 8,000 euros a night, are Japan’s Emperor Hirohito, Winston Churchill, and American presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Bill Clinton and George Bush.