Worldwide

Spanish hotel group Sol Meli  has sold the Meli  B varo hotel in the Dominican Republic to the Best Hotels group for i63m (£38.4m). Sol Meli  vice-chairman Sebasti n Escarrer said the deal marked the beginning of a new strategy of selling off hotels not considered to be of strategic value.

Wyndham International has sold its Sierra Suites hotel chain to a partnership of two Kansas-based investors. The sale includes one hotel owned by Wyndham, three it leases and 13 already owned by the two investors but managed by Wyndham.

Hotel group Maritim saw turnover at its 38 hotels in Germany rise from DM594m (£185m) in 1998 to DM610m (£190m) in 1999. Its two hotels in Tenerife and Mauritius added a further DM30.4m (£9.47m) in turnover. The number of overnight stays recorded in all 40 properties rose from 1.9 million to 2.1 million.

Starbucks coffee shops, kiosks and carts are to open in Marriott hotels across the USA and Canada under an agreement signed between the two companies last week.

Orient-Express Hotels has bought two hotels in Australia from the Nara Corporation of Yokohama, Japan, for a combined A$65m (£25.8m). The hotels are the 100-bedroom Observatory Hotel in Sydney and the 86-bedroom Lilianfels Hotel in the Blue Mountains, 60 miles west of Sydney.