FRHI Hotels & Resorts

FRHI Hotels & Resorts
Company typeSubsidiary
Industry
FoundedJanuary 2006; 19 years ago (2006-01)
Headquarters
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Number of locations
105 hotels (as of October 2013)
Area served
Worldwide
Number of employees
42,000 (2013)[1]
ParentAccorHotels (since 2016)
Websitewww.frhi.com

FRHI Hotels & Resorts (previously known as Fairmont Raffles Hotels International)[2] is a global hotel management company that is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. FRHI is the parent company that manages three brands of hotels: Fairmont, Raffles and Swissôtel. These hotel chains collectively include more than 100 hotels and resorts in over 30 countries worldwide. Since 2016, the company has been owned by AccorHotels, a French multinational hotel firm.[3] AccorHotels purchased FRHI for $2.7 billion.[4]

History

Pre FHRI

Raffles Hotel in Singapore

Established in 1989 to oversee the restoration of the historic Raffles Hotel in Singapore and the restructuring of Raffles City, the Raffles hotel company reopened its flagship hotel on September 16, 1991.

The company purchased the Swissôtel chain in 2001, and it took over the then Westin Stamford and Westin Plaza (both in Singapore) as the contract expired at the end of the year. On January 1, 2002, the two hotels were renamed as Swissôtel The Stamford and Raffles The Plaza (now Fairmont Singapore) respectively, with a refurbished look.

Former owner Raffles Holdings announced the sale of the chain on July 18, 2005, to Colony Capital from October 1, 2005. The sale included its 41 hotels and resorts, and its hotels under development. This included the landmark Raffles Hotel in Singapore, which is on a 100-year lease to Colony Capital.[5] However, Raffles City was owned by Raffles Holdings under Tincel Properties Pte Ltd when it was sold, but it was eventually sold to CapitaCommercial Trust and CapitaMall Trust in July 2006.

Fairmont Hotels and Resorts originated from two hotel businesses established in the late 19th century, the Canadian Pacific Limited-owned Canadian Pacific Hotels & Resorts, and Fairmont Hotels. In 1999, Canadian Pacific Hotels acquired a majority interest in Fairmont Hotels; with Canadian Pacific Hotels later renaming its entire hotel portfolio under the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts banner in 2001. Shortly after the hotel division was renamed, Canadian Pacific Limited was split into several smaller companies in a starburst move, with Fairmont becoming a separately-traded company.

As FRHI

FRHI was formed in January 2006, when Fairmont Hotels and Resorts was acquired by Colony Capital, who subsequently entered into a joint venture with the Kingdom Holding Company; consolidating Fairmont with their other hotel brands, Raffles and Swissôtel to form Fairmont Raffles Hotels International (FRHI).

The company also owned Delta Hotels at one point, but it sold that hotel management company in October 2007 to bcIMC, a Crown corporation owned by the Government of British Columbia. In 2015, Delta Hotels was purchased by Marriott International.

Voyager Partners, a Qatari Diar affiliate, subsequently acquired a majority interest in FRHI in April 2010. In December 2015, AccorHotels announced that it would be purchasing FRHI in a US$2.9 billion deal,[3] which was completed in 2016.

References

  1. ^ "FRHI Hotels & Resorts Background". frhi.com. 2013-09-30. Archived from the original on 2013-10-07. Retrieved 2013-10-05.
  2. ^ "AccorHotels to acquire three iconic hotel brands - Fairmont, Raffles and Swissôtel". Archived from the original on 2019-02-20. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
  3. ^ a b "French hotel chain Accor buys Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel for $2.9B US". CBC News. 9 December 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  4. ^ Deanna, Ting. "Accor Finalizes $2.7 Billion Purchase of Fairmont Raffles". Skift.
  5. ^ "Raffles Will Get Out Of Hotel Operations". Wall Street Journal. 2005-07-19. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
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