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Atlanta the new birthplace of the hot hotel

Atlanta Business Chronicle - November 27, 2007 - by Rachel Tobin Ramos Staff Writer

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With NYLO, Capella, Solis and TWELVE Hotels, Atlanta has birthed some of the hottest new hotels in the nation. The trend is apparent in a new study by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, which shows there were 34 new hotel brands launched in the United States from January 2005 to October 2007.

That comes out to one brand introduction a month nationwide during that period -- the highest number in a three-year span since 1989.

And, if Atlanta goes back to April 2004, when Hotel Indigo was launched by InterContinental Hotels Group Plc (NYSE: IHG), the city would be the birthplace of five new brands. …

Interestingly, three of the four brands launched in Atlanta don't have a physical presence here.

NYLO, who's CEO is longtime Atlanta hotelier John Russell, and Capella and Solis, both by former Ritz-Carlton executive Horst Schulze, have yet to plant their flag in the ATL.

Hotel consultant Paul Breslin, managing partner of Panther Hospitality Holdings LLC, said that land prices have to be low enough to give hoteliers their best return on investment, but he doesn't think these brands have given up on finding land here.

Breslin, who is consulting on the Hard Rock Hotel and Hotel Indigo projects downtown, also said that hotels headquartered elsewhere often use Atlanta as a proving ground, such as Hyatt Place and Staybridge Suites.

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