IHG Hotels & Resorts recently announced the signing of the first property
Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants in Italy: the Grand Hotel Miramare in Taormina.
As reported by ‘The Bulletin’ on 26.11.2021, the asset, a 4-star hotel with approx. 60 keys,
had been taken over by a group of Roman entrepreneurs with the intervention of Anglo-French capital.
The new owners wanted to renovate the hotel and reposition it in the 5-star segment.
5-star segment, and even then it was assumed that the management would be entrusted to an international chain. According to reports in ‘Il Messaggero’, the total investment is around 70 million Euro.
The Società Alberghiera Turistica Taorminese (S.T.A.T.) S.r.l. has in fact signed an MCA agreement with IHG Hotels & Resorts for the management of the hotel, which will have 59 keys, a bar on the panoramic terrace, a restaurant, a 20-metre swimming pool and a tennis court, and is scheduled to open in the second half of 2025.
The Kimpton in Sicily joins a portfolio of eight Kimpton hotels in the UK and continental Europe, which is part of Kimpton’s global portfolio of 78 hotels in 12 countries with a total of 13,721 keys.
In the coming years, 54 more hotels will be added to the Kimpton brand, which will surpass the 100-hotel mark and reach 20 countries by 2025.
IHG acquired the Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants brand in 2018 and has since led its expansion in Europe and beyond.
Kimpton’s signing in Sicily follows six openings and signings of luxury and lifestyle properties by IHG in 2023.
These include the first urban expression of Six Senses opened in Rome, along with the InterContinental Rome Ambasciatori Palace and Hotel Indigo Florence. IHG Hotels & Resorts currently has a portfolio of 29 hotels in operation, while there are 8 hotels in the pipeline (including the property in question) with a total of approx. 1,000 keys. These include the two Hotel Indigo in Turin and Trieste, as well as the first IHG property in the Vignette Collection, Hotel Alexandra, in Rome in 2025.
According to Thrends’ Luxury Hotels Database, there are 12 hotels in Taormina, with a total of 663 keys, while in the pipeline are Melià, Corinthia, Anantara (Minor Hotels) and Kimpton (IHG).