Nicosia hotels in talks to extend contract with US Hilton

Hilton Hotel and Resorts is negotiating the extension of a contract with Nicosia-based Hilton Cyprus and Hilton Park that allows them to operate under its brand name, a source said.

“The contracts in place expire at the end of the year, and there are negotiations to renew them,” the source who is familiar with the matter said in a telephone interview.

The two hotels need to comply with a number of requirements in order to adhere to standards of the US leisure and hospitality giant for the contracts to be renewed, the source said. The parties signed the contracts 15 years ago.

“There are ongoing improvement works just to meet these standards,” the source added.

Hilton Cyprus with a capacity of around 300 rooms and suites is effectively owned by Greece’s Marfin Investment Group via the Cypriot Public Company of Tourist Development Ltd (CPCTD), an acquisition going back more than 10 years ago, while the 194-room Hilton Park belongs to Louis Group. The latter also has a 22 per cent stake in the CPCTD.

The Hilton group did not respond to request for comment.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.