GOLDEN TULIP HOSPITALITY ANNOUNCES CHANGE IN STRATEGY FOR THE UNITED KINGDOM & IRELAND

Amersfoort (NL)/Lausanne (CH), –Golden Tulip Hospitality announces the intention of directly purchasing hotel assets in the UK, now that its Master Franchisee (Golden Tulip UK) has been sold to Whitbread PLC. Golden Tulip will make available for UK acquisitions an initial sum of GBP 50 million in pursuit of acquisitions.

The hotel development will consist out of greenfields and conversions. In the course of five years, 30 hotels are expected to be developed of which 20 Tulip Inns and 10 Golden Tulips.

Golden Tulip will announce its Management Team composition in the coming months.

Hans Kennedie, President & CEO of Golden Tulip Hotels, Inns & Resorts:“Over the past five years Golden Tulip (UK) has successfully developed and operated several Tulip Inns and one Golden Tulip. The results have been positive and it clearly appears that the brands are strongly preferred by the British customers. The fact that the hotels have been sold to Whitbread PLC is a development which happens in our industry and we just have to continue on our journey to provide the British market with our hospitality brands. I am confident that we will be back on the road soon again.”

For the avoidance of doubt, Golden Tulip announces that the Master Franchise with Golden Tulip (UK) Ltd. is now terminated and that Golden Tulip Hospitality will lead the development initiatives from its corporate offices in Amersfoort, The Netherlands and Lausanne, Switzerland.

The very successful Tulip Inn Manchester, which is located opposite the Trafford Centre and is under separate ownership, will continue to operate under the Golden Tulip franchise.

About the Golden Tulip Hospitality Group

Golden Tulip Hospitality Group (www.goldentuliptop.com), with its head offices in Amersfoort, The Netherlands and Lausanne, Switzerland, is a worldwide hospitality company with more than 909 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)


For more information, please contact:
Golden Tulip Hospitality Group
Ms. Rocio Manzanares –
Corporate Communication Manager
Stationsplein 26
3818 AK Amersfoort
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 33 2544 828
Fax: +31 33 2544 816
E-Mail: rocio.manzanares@goldentuliptop.com
Web: www.goldentulip.com