MKG Hospitality’s 2010 Hotel Group Ranking is marked by two major mergers: Louvre Hotels with Golden Tulip and NH Hoteles with Hesperia, in turn boosting each group’s position and into the top five. Meanwhile, Accor remains Europe’s leading group, whilst Best Western moves into second spot. Best Western is now Europe’s second largest group, following a 3.3% growth in supply to reach 87,017 rooms. This move nudges Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) to a close third, with 86,084, representing a 1.7% growth. Meanwhile, Accor remains Europe’s outright number one hotel group with 243,004 rooms, a 0.9% growth over 2009.

Although not altering its ranking, the greatest movement came from Starwood Capital’s Groupe du Louvre, with a room supply increase of over 20% after its merger with Golden Tulip. NH Hoteles’ rooms count also jumped over 16% following its recent merger with Hesperia, pushing the group into the top five at the expense of Spanish counterpart Sol Melia. These two developments cement both group’s position, with 71,544 and 50,777 rooms, respectively.

“Financial figures still look quite grim. It is certainly not a time for hotel supply euphoria. Having to confront deteriorating market conditions, hoteliers have thus far focussed on drastic measures in order to control and reduce costs, whilst pulling all available marketing & sales strings to salvage global income,” stated CEO & founder, MKG Group, Georges Panayotis.

“For many, the rhythm of development has slowed down due to a lower commitment level from investors, as well as of course a volatile economy. Once confidence has been reinstated, fuelled by increased demand and in turn more positive final results, developments will pick up. Those that have already planned for it and are ready to go will be in a much better position when the recovery comes,” added Panayotis. Other major developments included the foreseen split between two trades of the Accor Group, and the purchase of German group Steingenberger by Egyptian investor Travco.

With a dozen openings planned before the crisis began, Rezidor Group, EMEA subsidiary of US giant Carlson Hotels, recorded good internal growth (4%), with almost 1,700 new hotel rooms, following 3,700 rooms opened in 2008. The group is solid at number seven in the ranking, with a total of 45,500 rooms. Finally, Hilton Worldwide opened 11 hotels and 1,400 rooms in Europe, a growth of 3.8%. This allowed it to move into ninth position, one spot ahead of UK-based Whitbread (Premier Inn).

By cumulating hotel brands identified in Europe, net growth of the fleet registered in 2009 remains modest (1%) to be closer to 1.375 million of classified rooms. In terms of number of rooms, growth has been strongest in two categories: 6,360 rooms in economy and 5,100 rooms in upscale. This reflects a strengthening of the two most represented groups in Europe.

The 16th edition of the annual European hospitality ranking results examines supply and evolution of the top 100 hotel brands in the EU27; this year including activity and behaviour during a time of crisis. Information is collected directly from hotel groups and compiled by MKG Hospitality.