Starwood Hotels & Resorts expands with Le Meridien in Batumi

Upscale international hotel brand Le Meridien is set to debut in Georgia’s seaside resort town Batumi on the Black Sea coast.

The French-based hotel brand, owned and operated by top American hotel and leisure company Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, is scheduled to open a 100-room hotel in 2018.

The new hotel will be built inside the 35-floor, 200m Batumi Tower – the tallest structure in the seaside city with a small ferris wheel at the top.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide will open the hotel in partnership with the Real Estate Development Company (RED-Co).

We are thrilled to expand our presence in Georgia, a growing market at the crossroads of Asia and Europe,” said Bart Carnahan, senior vice president, Acquisitions and Development of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Europe, Africa and Middle East.

Le Méridien Batumi will join our Sheraton Batumi and Sheraton Metechi Palace hotels in the Republic of Georgia and will be a great addition to the vibrant city of Batumi,” Carnahan added.

Batumi Tower Ltd was registered as a company in November 2014 by RED-Co, which in turn was 100 percent owned by American company Celwood Investment Ltd.

Eighty percent of RED-Co shares belong to Natalia Koziukia of Ukraine and the other 20 percent are owned by RED-Co general director Mirian Katamadze of Georgia.

We thank the owners, Red-Co Ltd, for putting their trust in Starwood and we look forward to a long and successful working relationship with them,” said Michael Wale, president of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Europe, Africa and Middle East.

Le Méridien promises to ‘unlock’ each destination it enters for its guests and this hotel will inspire creative and curious minded travelers to discover the culture, the arts and cuisine of Batumi,” he added.

Construction of Batumi Tower began in 2011 on the Batumi Boulevard and was officially opened in 2012 by Georgia’s ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili. About 40 million GEL was spent on the construction of Batumi Tower.

The facility was intended to be a Technical University – an initiative of Saakashvili – but the idea was heavily criticised and eventually abandoned.