GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY FOR THE TULIP INN AT THE IKEA GLOBAL CONCEPT CENTER IN DELFT, THE NETHERLANDS

The 140 room Tulip Inn Delft is expected to open its doors in December 2008. The executive board of Golden Tulip, Inter IKEA Systems B.V. and STRABAG along with the local authorities and over 75 exclusive business partners and associates attended the ceremony consisting of speeches, the driving the first pole into the ground as a symbolic start of the construction and were later invited to enjoy traditional Swedish finger food at the specially designed exhibition area. The exhibition area provided the invitees a look & feel of the rooms of the hotel.

Inter IKEA Systems B.V. will be the owner of the hotel and Golden Tulip will operate the hotel under the Tulip Inn brand.

Inter IKEA Systems B.V. furthermore presented a check of € 5.000 to their neighbor Stichting Kindertuinen Delft. For more information about Stichting Kindetuinen Delft visit their internet site www.kindertuinendelft.nl.

Thomas Bergström, Chairman and CEO of Inter IKEA Systems B.V. comments, “Golden Tulip is an international hotel chain with a good reputation. We are looking forward to this co-operation between our companies to design and establish a hotel under the Tulip Inn brand. I am pleased to be able to offer our students at the IKEA College and other guests a staying and living option close to our IKEA Concept Center.”

André Boelaert, CEO of STRABAG Benelux adds: “STRABAG has built and developed many hotels and stores all over Europe. We are happy to co-operate with IKEA and Golden Tulip, as they are as international as we are. It gives a great feeling to be part of the realization of this hotel project. Let us practice this by using the old Dutch pile driver together.

Hans Kennedie, President and CEO of Golden Tulip Hospitality Group, adds “This hotel will serve a two-fold purpose; serving international students of the IKEA Concept Center with accommodation for a long term basis and the hotel will allow surrounding businesses to see the hotel as an attractive commodity for those looking for accommodation or meeting/conference area. It is with great excitement that we embark this project”

The hotel’s exterior and interior is being jointly developed by a project team of experts from both companies. The hotel will be furnished with IKEA furniture.

In order to assist the environment in this area, in autumn 2007, Inter IKEA Systems B.V. will together with Municipality of Delft plant 109 trees of 20 and 30 cm width. This will provide a green feel to the landscape around the Tulip Inn Hotel and the IKEA Concept Center. As part of this environmental plan, an ecological bank will also be established along the southern boundary of the hotel site for the local wildlife. Also, as part of an initiative to use sustainable energy sources, Solar Panels will be used to contribute to the hotel water heating system.

About Inter IKEA Systems B.V.
Inter IKEA Systems B.V. is the owner and worldwide franchisor of the IKEA Concept.
Today, there are 257 IKEA stores in 35 countries and territories. The INGKA Group owns and operates 228 IKEA stores in 24 countries and franchisees outside the INGKA Group own and operates 29 IKEA stores in 15 countries. The IKEA Catalogue is the most important IKEA marketing channel. Last year 191 million copies were printed in 56 editions.
Since its founding in 1943, the IKEA business idea is to offer a wide range of well-designed functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. The IKEA organization is recognized as a socially responsible company and continuously supports initiatives that benefit causes such as children and the environment. To visit the IKEA web site, please go to http://www.IKEA.com

About STRABAG

Every company has its strengths. Ours is building.
STRABAG is currently one of the leading constructions companies in Europe in the areas of commercial and industrial building and civil engineering. Our experienced and committed employees are our greatest assets. Our success is based on their motivation and competence. In all our construction-related activities: from the initial stages, developing, design, planning and executing, up to operations and facility management.
STRABAG is all the guarantee you need for your construction projects. And more, the attention we pay to quality and safety has been rewarded with the ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and the VCA** certificates.

As the Benelux division of the international construction group BAUHOLDING STRABAG SE, we benefit from superb financial and technology support, whilst at the same time remaining close at hand to our clients, thanks to our regional offices. In this way, we guarantee a decentralized approach with a local touch, ensuring that projects are completed to the highest standards, in a professional manner and on time. ‘Respect’ is our key word. Respect for the client’s whishes, respect for architecture and respect for the environment.www.strabag.nl

About the Golden Tulip Hospitality Group:

Golden Tulip Hospitality Group (www.goldentulip.com), with its head offices in Amersfoort, The Netherlands and Lausanne, Switzerland, is a worldwide hospitality company with more than 908 hotels, 81.000 rooms in more than 50 countries. The Golden Tulip Hospitality Group franchises and manages hotels in Europe, the Middle East & Africa, the Asian Pacific Region and the Americas. In 2006, Hotels Magazine has ranked this company the 18th largest hotel chain.

As a multi-brand hospitality firm, the Golden Tulip Hospitality Group offers services in the two, three, four and five star categories. On the two-star side Golden Tulip has an alliance with the French B&B hotel chain. The three-star concept is the Tulip Inn for the limited-service first-class category, the four-star category falls under the Golden Tulip brand for the Superior First-Class business and Resort hotels and the recently introduced five-star concept Royal Tulip. In addition Golden Tulip offers its services through its commercial alliance with TOP International, a German based hotel consortium.

In the fall of 2006, Golden Tulip introduced BRANCHE, Restaurant, Bar and Lounge. This is a free standing restaurant chain, which will have establishments in most Golden Tulip Hotels and Tulip Inns operated by Golden Tulip. (For more information please visit www.brancherestaurants.com)