NH Convention Centre - Seville (Spain) 5 NH Hoteles is committed to achieving profitable growth, through, for example, its entry into the Italian and English markets, and to technological innovation, as evidenced by the launch of new web products such as “My NH” or “Client Page”; the WIFI and the new loyalty programme “NH World” Elysium, the Spa of Madrid - NH Eurobuilding - Madrid (Spain) INTRODUCTION 1 The NH Hoteles Group (www.nh-hotels.com) now ranks third among Europe’s city hotel groups. NH Hoteles has 242 hotels with 35,000 rooms in operation in 19 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. NH Hoteles has, moreover, 27 new hotel projects underway, which will contribute an additional 4,000 rooms. This year, two new countries have been added: Italy, a market that is perfectly suited to NH Hoteles and where the company wants to continue growing, and Romania, the second Eastern European country that the company enters, after Hungary. In 2004, the company opened eight hotels in Spain and one in Italy with 1,200 new rooms. It also signed contracts to add ten new hotels with over 1,600 rooms, which are currently under construction in different markets in Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Mexico and Romania. In March 2005, the company entered the United Kingdom with the Harrington Hall hotel, in a privileged London location. NH Hoteles stands out due to their location; in the centre of cities or in large company estates. NH Hoteles offers high-quality services and facilities, boasting a well-designed décor pleasing to customers. They provide cutting edge technology to enable customers to communicate, work and relax. Accordingly, establishments offer wireless Internet access (WIFI) in guestrooms and communal areas. In addition, the web page has been updated and new electronic products launched such as “My NH” for private individuals and “Client Page” for corporate clients, giving customers easier access to the conditions agreed with NH and other services such as their company history and the possibility to make their own reservations.
6 NH Hoteles has launched a totally innovative guest loyalty programme, “NH World”. Members receive a card with an intelligent chip that stores all of their guest history and preferences so that the best service can be provided at any hotel in the chain. In addition, “NH World” is very generous when rewarding customers because of the flexibility, benefits and points it offers. Restaurants are another priority for our hotels, which offer customers high quality and uniform cuisine that is adapted to the tastes of each market. Acclaimed restaurateur, Ferran Adrià, creator of El Bulli and hailed by several prestigious media as the best chef in the world, worked alongside NH Hoteles to create new concepts such as “nhube”, pioneering spaces in the hotel sector that combine dining, leisure and relaxation for the chain’s customers and “Fast Good”. The latter has enjoyed great success and is much more than a mere concept; it is a new “gastronomic culture” designed for today’s health-conscious customer who wants high quality food but is pressed for time. NH Hoteles’ commitment to culture was acknowledged this year when distinguished writer Mario Vargas Llosa decided to support the short story award and lend it his name. And so, in the competition’s ninth year, it has become known as the Mario Vargas Llosa NH Short Story Award. This award, which is the most important of its kind in the Spanish language, is becoming ever more popular and last year’s competition received almost 4,000 entrants. Sotogrande, in which the chain has a 78.7% stake, set a new sales record in 2004 with a turnover of 98.4 million. In addition, the “Reserva” Club House and the NH Sotogrande hotel were opened. NH Laguna Palace - Mestre - Venice (Italy)
7 At NH Hoteles we continue to support several social programmes including the noteworthy “NH street children” which was developed altogether with the Codespa Foundation in Mexico. The NH Hoteles Group is listed on the Stock Exchanges of Madrid (where it is among the Ibex-35 index) and in Amsterdam in the Euronext. In addition, NH Hoteles is member of the DJ Stoxx 600 Index, which includes Europe’s leading businesses and forms part of the prestigious Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Indexes. Making a reservation at NH Hoteles is very easy and can be done through the Internet (www.nh-hotels.com) or calling the following numbers: Tel. 902 115 116 (from Spain); Tel. +800 0115 01 16 (from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland and Romania) and Tel. +34 398 44 00 (from anywhere else in the world). NH Düsseldorf City Nord (Germany)
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