Fairmont President's Club - The Plaza could be snapped up and Fairmont management terminated

I thought this better on it's own rather than in the hotel's own thread.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/real-estate/news-/sahara-group-in-talks-to-buy-the-plaza-in-new-york-for-rs-3000-crore/articleshow/12551450.cms

NEW DELHI: Little over a year after he snapped up London's iconic Grosvenor House hotel, Subroto Roy is about to do a similar deal across the Atlantic. The Sahara Group is in exclusive talks to acquire The Plaza, a 105-year-old landmark property in New York whose guests have included Marilyn Monroe and the Beatles, for around $600 million (Rs 3,000 crore).

Sahara, which bought the Grosvenor House hotel in December 2010 for $726 million, is carrying out a due diligence of the asset and has paid an advance to the property's owners, Israel's El Ad group, a person familiar with the matter told ET.

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Sahara has also put a condition that if a deal gets consummated, The Plaza's present owners will have to terminate their management agreement with Canada's Fairmont Hotels & Resorts with immediate effect, sources said.

Wow, guess I need to squeeze in a stay using a free night cert before Fairmont loses its management contract.:p

Well, to be honest, it´s not that a huge loss IMO as the hotel pretty much refused to honor most Plat benefits, so as fa as I am concerned it was just another exorbitantly expensive NY hotel.

Well, to be honest, it´s not that a huge loss IMO as the hotel pretty much refused to honor most Plat benefits, so as fa as I am concerned it was just another exorbitantly expensive NY hotel.

Granted it is that indeed but there must be a certain amount of loss of cache not being able to say the Plaza is a Fairmont managed property. I'm not PR flunkie but would think that's worth something in the overall big picture.

Im looking forward to my booking with Plaza in July. Hopefully they honor my reservation and amenities.

Also I'm assuming its the part of the plaza that is not sold as condos, I'm assuming that the group is looking to acquire. Certainly it would be difficult to get all of the current condo owners to agree and sell to one purchaser.

Granted it is that indeed but there must be a certain amount of loss of cache not being able to say the Plaza is a Fairmont managed property. I'm not PR flunkie but would think that's worth something in the overall big picture.

I tend to agree that the Plaza is a prestigious hotel to manage for Fairmont, although -while pretty much everyone knows the Plaza - hardly anyone seems to know this fact, so I´m not sure Fairmont has finanically benefited too much from this fact.

Also, unlike the Savoy, the Plaza doesn´t seem to managed to become one of the top hotels in NY again. Sure, it´s good hotel, but people who pay the rates for a 5* hotels seem to prefer other properties.

It will be interesting to see how this turns out...

I tend to agree that the Plaza is a prestigious hotel to manage for Fairmont, although -while pretty much everyone knows the Plaza - hardly anyone seems to know this fact, so I´m not sure Fairmont has finanically benefited too much from this fact.

The prestige and financial considerations are separate and while I'm sure they'll have done alright on the money side of things losing the Plaza means a certain amount of loss on the prestige side, at least IMHO.

And no, this wasn't a "real" Fairmont as they couldn't call it the "Fairmont Plaza" but rather "The Plaza, A Fairmont Managed Hotel" but still chalk it up as a loss IF this deal comes to pass.

As a college grad who was extremely interested in Fairmont's LDP with the Plaza as my #1 choice, this could be very disappointing.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-10/alwaleed-to-keep-stake-in-plaza-hotel-after-offer-made.html

Kingdom Holding Co. (KINGDOM), controlled by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, plans to retain its stake in the Plaza Hotel after Sahara India Pariwar reportedly made an offer to buy the New York icon.

“Kingdom isn’t planning on selling at this point in time,” Charles Henry, a spokesman for the company, said today in a telephone interview. “The prince’s objective is to be a long-term investor in this kind of iconic asset.”

Given that Kingdom owns 50% of the hotel I think that we still may have some time.
Strange story.. You would think that they would have had a deal in hand before bragging about a potential purchase.

Personally, I would just prefer if Fairmont did another hotel in NYC somewhere. They'd get my $$ when I travel there.

http://www.moneylife.in/article/sahara-buys-new-york-hotel-for-570-million/27397.html

The 105-year-old luxury hotel overlooking New York’s Central Park, is jointly owned by Elad Properties of Israel and Saudi-based Kingdom Holdings Company

The Sahara Group has reportedly agreed to buy a controlling stake in New York’s prestigious Plaza Hotel for $570 million, a media report quoting Elad Properties, an Israeli-owned real estate company said on Monday.

The 105-year-old luxury hotel overlooking New York’s Central Park, is jointly owned by Elad Properties and Saudi-based Kingdom Holdings Company.

Elad, controlled by Israeli businessman Yitzhak Tshuva, said it would receive 1.6 billion shekels ($400 million) for its 60% stake, while the Saudi firm will receive the rest.

I'm surprised that these press releases don't describe The Plaza as "that hotel from Home Alone."

Any guesses how long it will stay a Fairmont?

I do have a friend who worked at the Olympic and just transferred to the Plaza, I wonder if he'll have any better idea then us?