The Icelandair Group has decided to sell all of its hotels as well as “properties pertaining to these operations,” mbl.is reports. This announcement was made in a statement to GlobeNewswire on Friday.
Icelandair currently operates 13 hotels under the brands Icelandair Hotels and Hotel Edda, with locations in the towns of Akureyri, Flúðir, Hamar, Kirkjubæjarklaustur, Reykjavík, and Vík, as well as at Lake Mývatn and in the East Iceland county of Hérað. In Reykjavík, their hotels include Reykjavik Natura, Reykjavik Marina, Hilton Reykjavik Nordica, Canopy Reykjavik | City Centre, Reykjavik Konsúlat Hótel, and Hótel Alda. All total, their hotels contain 1,937 rooms—867 in Reykjavík, 450 in the countryside, and 611 in Hotel Edda’s summer-only hotels. The company currently has plans underway to open a new hotel on Austurvöllur square in downtown Reykjavík in 2019.
In the company statement, Icelandair Group President and CEO Björgólfur Jóhannsson wrote that Icelandair “…introduced a new corporate structure at the beginning of the year, when we divided the Company’s operations into two segments: International flight operations and Investments in aviation and tourism. We are now taking the next steps, with a decision to initiate a process designed to sell majority share in Icelandair Hotels. We are looking in the same way at the properties relating to these business activities. Icelandair Hotels is at the forefront in its field in Iceland; it enjoys a strong market position, is well run and excellently staffed. We have been aware of extensive recent interest in the company, both among Icelandic and foreign entities. Our objective with this change is to sharpen further the focus on our core business, which is international aviation, where we intend to invest further in our Company’s growth through digital solutions, increased automation and a new fleet.”
Read the full statement (in English) here.
