| TORONTO, Jan. 10, 2000 - William R. Fatt, chairman and chief executive
executive officer of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, is pleased to announce
that the company has signed a letter of intent with Willowbend Development
Corp, of Boston, Mass., and Betteroads Asphalt Corp., of San Juan, Puerto
Rico, to manage a new $140 million, 400-room resort on Puerto Rico�s Rio
Grande, 25 miles east of San Juan.
Construction of the resort is to begin in mid-2001, with a projected
opening of fall 2003.
| The resort will feature a 12,000-square-foot
spa, 36 holes of golf (currently under construction) and 30,000 square-feet
of meeting space. Each guest room will offer a balcony and view of the
ocean. Many rooms will also feature views of El Yunque, the Puerto Rican
rainforest.
Willowbend Development Corporation (WDC) is a privately held company,
specializing as owner/builder, developer, operator, and construction manager
of golf and hospitality related resort facilities. Founded in 1991,
Willowbend now has majority interest in over $500 million in developments.
Betteroads Asphalt Corp., the largest asphalt producer and paving company
in the Caribbean, was founded by Puerto Rican entrepreneur Arturo Diaz,
Jr. in 1954. The company now operates twelve fully automatic plants throughout
Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and is part of EMPRESAS DIAZ, a
construction conglomerate headed also by Arturo Diaz, Jr.
The new resort will expand Fairmont Hotels & Resorts� collection
to 37 properties in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, and the
Caribbean.
�We are excited to expand Fairmont Hotels & Resorts� presence in
the Caribbean and further build our brand in the resort category,� said
Mr. Fatt. �We are also pleased to be working with such quality-driven
developers, such as Willowbend Development and Betteroads Asphalt Corp.
We continue to expand our family of partners as we grow the Fairmont brand.� |
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HISTORIC NAMES NOT TO BE CHANGED
Toronto, Ontario, November 30, 2000-- Canadian Pacific
Hotels & Resorts Inc., owners of the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts,
Canadian Pacific Hotels and Delta Hotels brands, today announced that the
Fairmont Hotels & Resorts brand will be extended to its luxury properties
in Canada. Individual hotel names of historic significance will be
retained.
Canadian Pacific Hotels & Resorts Inc., which acquired
67% ownership of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts in October of 1999, has
been operating its hotels in the US, Mexico, and the Caribbean under the
Fairmont brand for the past year, using the Canadian Pacific Hotels name
domestically. According to William R. Fatt, Chairman and CEO of the
company, there was a need to consolidate the hotels under one flag. �By
putting all of our hotels under one brand, we will be able to create a
consistent sales message and grow the company internationally. We are already
the largest luxury brand in North America with 36 hotels and approximately
18,160 rooms. This is a Canadian success story, and we intend to build
on it aggressively.�
Many of the hotels currently under the Canadian Pacific
Hotels flag have historical significance. The company will be retaining
these names. �We recognize and respect that these are not generic hotels�they
have individual names that are well known in the communities where they
are located.� said Fatt. �The Chateau Laurier, the Chateau Frontenac, the
Banff Springs - these names are part of our Canadian heritage. Many of
them have already changed brands two or three times, without losing their
character. With this branding strategy, we will retain the icon names while
providing the additional opportunities that the association with an international
brand can bring.�
In August of 1998, the company acquired Princess Hotels,
with properties located in the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean,
and rebranded them under the Canadian Pacific Hotels flag. �We learned
that despite the strong equity of the Canadian Pacific name here in Canada,
it was not marketable for international growth,� said Fatt. �To be truly
competitive we needed a brand that fit with our expansion plans. With Fairmont
Hotels & Resorts we gained just such a brand. Now we will be able to
keep these properties under Canadian control, while making them part of
an expanded network.�
Fatt acknowledges that the Canadian Pacific Hotels brand
has historic significance domestically. �The transition to a brand that
is less well known here will take time. However, our corporate office remains
in Canada, our global reservations network is here, we are a Canadian controlled
company, and a proud member of the Canadian Pacific family.�
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Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, the largest luxury hotel management company
in North America, currently manages two resorts in the Caribbean: Royal
Pavilion and Glitter Bay, both in Barbados.
Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has a collection of 36 distinctive hotels
and 18,150 rooms throughout the U.S., Canada, Bermuda, Barbados and Mexico. |
