Great Hotels Organisation and Grand Heritage Group join forces to form GH International

Great Hotels Organisation and the Grand Heritage Group have launched a new joint venture company, GH International. The primary strategy of the partnership is to develop hotel management and investment portfolios in Europe and China.

The investment portfolio will primarily focus on the development of private residence clubs in Europe and on building a hotel asset portfolio in China. GH International has a fund of US$100 million to move this project forward. The investments will be supported by the expansion of the Grand Heritage hotel management brand outside the USA.

GH International already has twelve fractional developments in operation in the US, Mexico and the Caribbean, covering areas such as California, Rhode Island, British Virgin Islands, Michigan, and Los Cabos.

Peter Gould, CEO, Great Hotels Organisation and Chairman, GH International, said, “In the past few years the major hotel brands have been benefiting from the growth and fantastic return on investment that the fractional private residence club model delivers. This has probably been the most significant development in the US hospitality sector in the past few years. We are delighted to be working with a leading player in that development to bring the concept to the hotel world outside the USA. We are already actively talking with owners and developers and expect to announce our first three projects soon”

GH International aims to have ten residence club projects completed by 2010, involving a mixture of urban and resort properties with an initial focus on London, Paris, Marbella and the Algarve.