Famed hotel in Rome sold to Qatari group

A Qatari hotel group has bought Italy's Westin Excelsior hotel, one of Rome's most loved hotels, the UK's Guardian newspaper reported yesterday.

Qatar's Katara Hospitality paid €222m for the hotel, a celebrity hotspot in the 1960s.

Frederio Fellini's film La Dolce Vita, one of the most critically acclaimed movies of all time, was filmed around the hotel at that time.

The previous owners of the hotel, US-based Starwood Hotel and Resorts, will continue to manage the hotel, but reportedly all its rooms and common areas will be completely transformed.

Starwood posted negative results for the first quarter of this year, with an almost three percent loss.

It's clear that [Starwood's] strategy will be to become asset-light managers and operators - Sarah Williams, Hotelier Middle East

"The industry has been watching with interest as to what their next moves will be, with Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson commenting that [Starwood's] options seem to be to sell to a bigger player such as Hilton or Marriott, or to begin offloading its properties," said Sarah Williams, online editor of Hotelier Middle East magazine.

"With this last sale to Katara Hospitality bringing their total asset sales this year up to $817 million, it's clear that their strategy will be to become asset-light managers and operators," the industry insider told al-Araby al-Jadeed.

The Excelsior is located on the Via Veneto and opened in 1906.

The Qatari group also owns two other large luxury hotels in Italy: Milan's Excelsior Hotel Gallia and Rome's InterContinental De La Ville hotel.

The group is controlled by Qatar Holding LLC, a global investment house established in 2006 and founded by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund.

"Katara Hospitality has clearly shown itself to be the investors to watch as it pursues an aggressive investment strategy in Europe and elsewhere. This is its third property in Italy, and its second owner-operator partnership with Starwood," Hotelier Middle East's Williams told al-Araby.

"Despite Starwood's age and reputation as some of the first hoteliers to boom worldwide, it's my prediction that in the MENA region and Europe, Katara's votes of confidence show that Starwood isn't going anywhere - merely changing its focus."

Katara Hospitality has clearly shown itself to be the investors to watch - Sarah Williams, Hotelier Middle East

Katara owns more than 30 properties, including seven hotels in Qatar and more than a dozen properties in Europe.

Francesco Galietti, an analyst with Policy Sonar, a Rome-based political risk consultancy, said the purchase increased Qatar's influence in Italy, both as a gas supplier and large investor, reported the Guardian.

Galietti speculated the purchase could increase Qatar's leverage over how the newly discovered gas field off Egypt's shore, which is controlled by Italy's state owned Eni, may be used in Egypt.