Accor North America

Seventeen new franchise locations recently joined Accor, including seven Red Roof Inn properties and 10 Motel 6 properties. The Red Roof Inns include properties in Queensbury, NY; Killington, VT; Sandston, VA; Wytheville, VA; Plymouth, NH; Atlanta; and San Antonio. New Motel 6 properties are located in Chandler, AZ; Wichita, KS; Macon, GA; Hope Hull, AL; Richmond, KY; Logan, UT; Greeley, CA; San Francisco; Yakima, WA; and Horse-heads, NY.

Best Western

Properties recently joining the membership organization include The Best Western Lakewood Inn, Hebron, OH; and the Best Western Waynesboro (VA) Inn and Suites Conference Center.

Carlson Hotels

New Carlson properties include a Radisson SAS property in France; a Radisson in Arizona; three Country Inn & Suites By Carlson hotels in the U.S.; and one new Park Inn hotel in Belgium.

A 77-room Country Inn & Suites By Carlson opened in Norman, OK, and a 95-room Country Inn & Suites By Carlson opened in Camp Springs, MD.

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts

The 157-unit Fairmont Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten, Hamburg, Germany joined the group last month.

Jin Jiang International Group and Fairmont formed a joint venture company. Jin Jiang Fairmont Hotel Management Company, LTD, will renovate and open The Peace Hotel in Shanghai. The hotel is scheduled to reopen in 2010.

Hilton Hotels

Hampton opened 15 properties in February and March, representing 1,325 new rooms. Hampton Inn hotels opened in Cleveland, MS; Lewisburg, PA; Kingsville, TX; Seguin, TX; Montgomery-South-Airport, AL; Freeport, IL; Oswego, NY; and Athens, OH. Hampton Inn & Suites hotels opened in Grand Rapids-Airport, MI; Bloomington/Normal, IL; Lamar, PA; Stephenville, TX; Henderson/Saint Rose, NV; Greeley, CO; and Boise-Downtown, ID.

Raymond Management Company and Marsh Pitman broke ground on the Hampton Inn & Suites-Oklahoma City (OK)/Bricktown. The 200-room property is slated to open in summer 2008.

Winston Hotels opened the 119-room Hilton Garden Inn in Wilmington, NC.

The Conrad brand changed its corporate brand identity from Conrad Hotels to Conrad Hotels & Resorts.

Historic Hotels of America

The 142-unit Gasparilla Inn & Club in Boca Grande, FL joined HHA and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Hyatt Hotels

The 150-unit Park Hyatt Mexico City-Reforma is slated to open in late 2009. GISCA is developing the project.

The 127-room Hyatt Place Cincinnati-Northeast and 127-room Hyatt Place Cincinnati and Airport/Florence (OH) opened last month. In Nashville, two Hyatt Place properties opened in April: Hyatt Place/Opryland and Hyatt Place Nashville.

Andaz is Hyatt's new luxury global brand. The company will launch several hotels under the brand this year, with properties slated for New York and London and others in discussion for Beijing and Moscow.

InterContinental Hotels

Recent Holiday Inn openings include the 253-room Holiday Inn Miami Beach and the 193-room Holiday Inn Kansas City (MO) — The Aladdin.

Interstate Hotels & Resorts will manage two Holiday Inn hotels in downtown Moscow, Russia: the 301-room Holiday Inn Moscow Lesnaya Hotel and the 312-room Holiday Inn Moscow Suschevsky Hotel. Both properties are owned by Mospromstoi, a Moscow-based construction and hotel ownership company.

Staybridge Suites will open a new hotel in Liverpool, England, in early 2008, the first in Europe for the brand.

IHG launched a hotel franchising program for Holiday Inn Express in China. The launch follows the opening of six Holiday Inn Express hotels and the signing of 20 additional management contracts for the brand in greater China.

A Holiday Inn Express will open in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil at the end of 2008-early 2009.

Jumeirah Group

The 400-unit, 60-story Jumeirah Etihad Towers is due to open in late 2010.

Key West Inns

A 51-unit conversion hotel joined the chain in Baxley, GA.

Marriott International

John Q. Hammons will build a 250-room Marriott hotel in Boise, ID. It's slated to open in 2009.

Recent openings include the 127-room Courtyard by Marriott, Burlington, VT; the 120-room Courtyard by Marriott and adjoining 78-room Residence Inn, Aberdeen, MD; the 84-room Courtyard by Marriott, Prattville, AL; and the 91-room Courtyard by Marriott, Mechanicsburg, PA; the 132-suite Residence Inn by Marriott, Vaughan, Ontario; and the 93-suite TownePlace Suites by Marriott, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Royal Indian Raj

In a $4-billion deal, RIRIC contracted with Choice Hotels India to build at least 12,000 budget-style hotel rooms under the Comfort Inn, Quality, Sleep Inn and Clarion Brands. The initiative will commence over the next 12 months throughout India.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts

The 150-room Sheraton Tarrytown (NY), the official prototype for Sheraton's new hotel design, opened last month.

The aloft Rogers (AK) broke ground last month. It's slated to open in early 2008. Aloft Minneapolis, developed by 900 Washington Hotel, LLC, an affiliate of Sherman Associates, Inc., will break ground this year.

Manga Hotels International will develop the first Element hotel outside of the U.S., in Toronto. It will open in January 2009.

Combined Westin and Element brand hotel developments will be built in Chantilly, VA. The Westin Chantilly and Element Chantilly Westfields are due to open in spring 2009.

The 203-room Westin Memphis Beale Street Hotel opened in April. Other recent openings include the 413-unit Westin Washington DC City Center and the 676-unit Westin San Francisco Market Street (formerly the Argent Hotel)

The all-suite Resort at Singer Island (FL) debuted last month as part of The Luxury Collection brand.

Vantage Hospitality

The 1,000-room Orlando Sun Resort joined the Lexington Collection. Senate Hospitality manages the former Hyatt Resort near the main entrance to Disney World. The property has 60,000 square feet of meeting space.