In a press briefing to travel industry journalists, Tony Potter, Chief Executive Officer of Malta-based Corinthia Hotels International, described the many exciting changes that have strengthened Corinthia’s five-star properties into The Corinthia Hotel Luxury Collection in the past year. The briefing took place at Tavern on the Green in New York City.

Key among these are the ascension of Corinthia as a top choice for the North-American MICE market as well as for corporate travel; the joint venture with Wyndham Hotel Group; Brand expansion into new destinations; the ongoing upgrading and refurbishments of the Corinthia properties; the receipt of many awards and other recognitions, and the introduction of unique new programs for event planners.

“We look forward to the coming year with the highest of expectations,” Mr. Potter, appointed Corinthia Hotels International’s CEO in December 2006, stated. “We have re-organized our marketing department, and have also set up the Corinthia five-star luxury hotels as a separate Luxury Collection. This allows us to focus our sales and marketing on the corporate, meetings and upscale leisure markets.”

Mr. Potter also noted that Corinthia Hotels International’s joint venture with Wyndham Hotel Group has expanded and globalized Corinthia’s reservations system as well as provided a broader reach in the US market with Wyndham’s large sales force.

Corinthia’s dedicated program for Meeting and Event planners, Events@Corinthia, together with the Hotels’ conference facilities, has made Corinthia Hotels a top choice for American meeting, conference and event planners according to Mr, Potter. Events@Corinthia recently launched a special webpage which centralizes group offers for all its Luxury Collection properties, enabling planners to look for special rates by hotel, destination or dates.

Another Events@Corinthia initiative in Malta is the Green Project launched in August with Malta’s Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment – the 34U campaign—to encourage visiting conference groups to reduce harmful carbon emissions. Corinthia Hotels International will be planting six trees for every conference group accommodated at any of its Malta hotels throughout the year. Besides donating trees for each conference, Events@Corinthia Goes Green will be encouraging visiting conferences to hold a tree-planting event of their own at a designated area on the Island. Conference delegates will then be presented with a memento of the occasion.

In the area of refurbishment and expansions, the Corinthia San Gorg in Malta, and the Corinthia Lisboa in Portugal (including its new Spa), were all made even more luxurious; and newly restored Spas at the Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal in Budapest and the Corinthia Palace in Malta, brought International acclaim. The Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal also added its Royal Residence of apartments adjacent to the Hotel; and the current expansion of the Corinthia Nevskij Palace Hotel, upon completion late next year, will make it the largest luxury hotel conference facility in St. Petersburg, Russia. New properties recently brought aboard, will expand the Corinthia Hotels operation to Algiers, Dubai and other destinations.