Corinthia in venture with world's largest hotel company

Some 200 top executives, hotel managers and franchisee partners from the Wyndham Hotel Group International, the largest hotel company in the world, will today be welcomed by the Corinthia San Gorg and Marina Resort in St Julians.

They are in Malta to attend the US hotel group's International Franchisees and General Managers Conference 2006 and include a high-powered delegation from the group's headquarters in New Jersey, led by company president and CEO Steven A. Rudnitsky and vice-president and managing director Reas M. Kondraschow.

Wyndham Hotel Group, one of three principal components of Wyndham Worldwide, operates more than 6,400 franchised and managed hotels and 535,000 hotel rooms under one or the other of its eight renowned brands across the world.

The choice of Malta and the Corinthia Hotels for this Wyndham conference is the result of a new joint venture agreement between the group and International Hotel Investments plc, the hotel investment company with interests across Europe. The two companies jointly acquired full ownership of CHI Limited, a hotel management company operating hotel properties on behalf of investors and third-party owners in several countries.

By virtue of the agreement, CHI is licensed to operate hotels in Europe, Africa and the Middle East under the Wyndham, Ramada Plaza and Corinthia brands. The objective is for CHI to rapidly grow into one of the region's leading multi-brand hotel operator, Corinthia Hotels said in a statement.

CHI's seven top hotels will retain the Corinthia brand, redefined to represent a luxury, five-star brand in association with Wyndham's new Grand Collection tier. The remaining hotels in CHI's portfolio will be re-flagged under the Wyndham or Ramada Plaza brands. All hotels will continue to be operated by CHI Ltd.

Welcoming the delegates to the hotel, Corinthia Group chairman and CEO Alfred Pisani said: "We are particularly excited about this new joint venture. Our synergies will undoubtedly provide an ideal platform for our ambitious upmarket expansion into the EMEA region and will be the catalyst for CHI's aspirations of becoming a leading upscale international hotel operator."

The conference is also being attended by CHI Ltd's top executives, led by company chairman Karmenu Vella and newly appointed chief executive officer Tony Potter.

Mr Vella said that with the strength of Wyndham's global distribution network and international brand recognition behind it, CHI stood to profit from the many international growth opportunities, stepping up its success to a new global level.