The Shelton, CT based hotel ownership and management company will oversee day-to-day management of the Keltic Lodge in Ingonish Beach, The Pines Resort in Digby and Liscombe Lodge in Liscomb Mills.  New Castle will also manage a planned $10 million (Canadian), three-year improvement plan for the properties.  The company will launch a 100-day plan to streamline operational, accounting, food and beverage, sales and marketing, and business development systems for all three properties. It is the first time in the province�s 30-year ownership of the Signature Resorts that the Nova Scotian

Keltic Lodge Middle Head Peninsula Ingonish Beach  Nova Scotia, Canada

�We are gratified by the confidence the provincial government has shown in our management culture by awarding us this contract,� Chase says.  �With the addition of the Signature Resorts, New Castle�s property portfolio continues to grow, and we have numerous projects in the pipeline for 2002.�

Keltic Lodge, located on Cape Breton at the northernmost tip of Nova Scotia, offers 32 guestrooms and two two-bedroom luxury suites in its Main Lodge, 40 guestrooms in its Inn at Keltic and 10 two- and four-bedroom cottages.  The resort also adjoins the Highlands Links, ranked the top golf course in Canada by Golf Magazine (September 1999).  Built in 1939, the course was designed by Stanley Thompson.

Overlooking the Annapolis Basin in the province�s southwestern region, The Pines Resort features 84 guestrooms, including six suites in its main hotel, as well as 30 cottages with one, two or three guestrooms.  The Pines Resort Golf Course, also designed by Stanley Thompson, is a scenic 18-hole championship course.

Liscombe Lodge is located along Nova Scotia�s picturesque Marine Drive.  The lodge offers 65 guest accommodations in chalets, cottages and rooms in the Riverside Lodge.  Three meeting rooms provide seating for up to 100 people, an additional 100 can be hosted in three function rooms.  The beauty of the lodge�s riverside setting attracts visitors who take in the province�s Eastern Shore and outdoor activities from nature trails to tennis, canoeing, fishing and mountain biking.
 

• Entered the Canadian market in 1996 with the acquisition of the Westin Nova Scotian, a landmark hotel in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Prior to its acquisition by New Castle, this grand dame hotel was slated to be bulldozed and the land on which it sits was to become a parking lot.

• Operates three other Canadian properties: Deerhurst Resort, a landmark in Huntsville, Ontario; Westin Nova Scotian; and Chateau Royale in Montreal.

• Employs 100 percent Canadian upper management teams at its Canadian properties, and about 1,200 employees total, excluding the Signature Resorts.

• Implemented an eight-year growth plan committed to the revitalization, development or acquisition of one property per year in eight major Canadian cities, including Calgary, Vancouver, Ottawa and Quebec City.

• Doubled occupancy at the Westin Nova Scotian during the first two years of operation and boosted gross revenues more than five fold.

• Infused about $50 million in capital to renovate and reposition the Nova Scotian, Renaissance Montreal and Deerhurst Resort.