Melia to open Innside hotel in New York

Melia Hotels International will open its first Innside property in New York City in 2016. The 20-storey new build will be located on West 27th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in the city's NoMad district around Madison Square Garden. Innside Manhattan will contain 313 rooms, a restaurant, bar and meeting rooms and "will be geared towards both leisure and business tourism". Melia is also planning to open new Innside hotels in Miami and Los Angeles. Gabriel Escarrer, vice chairman and CEO of Melia, said: "We have identified specific large North American cities, whose Latin influence and cosmopolitan atmosphere provide brands like Melia, Me by Melia and Innside by Melia an extraordinary opportunity for development. "It has long been a goal for us to establish a presence in New York City, and Manhattan specifically, with Innside by Melia, already a tremendously successful brand in Europe for both business travel and for urban escapes." Alvaro Tejeda, vice-president of Melia for the Americas, added: "With our strategy for Innside to develop into an international brand, we have been able to leverage new business opportunities and projects within Europe, China, Indonesia and Latin America offering profitable investments for developers." In January, Melia opened its third Innside property in Madrid (see news, January 27) and will next year debut the brand in the UK. innside.com Graham Smith