The Plaza Hotelgroup, which currently operates 23 hotels in three countries, is expanding significantly. The Yalaz family, founders of the group, headquartered in Heilbronn, Germany, intend to add four new Best Western hotels in Ruesselsheim, Raunheim, Bottrop, and Amsterdam with 580 rooms to grow to over 2,300 rooms under the Best Western banner. After these additions, at 19 Best Western hotels the Plaza Hotelgroup will be one of the biggest hotel operators within Best Western Hotels Central Europe GmbH.
Plaza Hotelgroup GmbH will soon be expanding the Best Western portfolio by adding four new hotels. The Plaza Hotelgroup, founded in 2002 in Heilbronn, Germany, by Ihsan and Yonca Yalaz, has grown rapidly over the past few years with the Best Western brand. Currently, the Yalaz family is successfully operating nine Best Western hotels in Germany: in Filderstadt, Ditzingen, Heilbronn, Braunschweig, Berlin, Hamburg-Ohlsdorf, Zwickau, Passau, and Bielefeld/Werther, five Best Western Amedia Hotels in Austria in Salzburg, Graz, Wels, and Vienna, and the Best Western Amedia Hotel Prague, in the Czech Republic. “The Plaza Hotelgroup by the Yalaz family is already a key partner, and one of our largest hotel operators,” Marcus Smola, CEO of Best Western Hotels Central Europe GmbH, headquartered in Eschborn, Germany, explains. In total, the Plaza Hotelgroup, based in Heilbronn, operates 15 hotels under the Best Western banner with over 1,800 rooms. Now, spouses Yonca and Ihsan Yalaz, directors of the group, are announcing a few more new additions in Ruesselsheim, Raunheim, Bottrop, and Amsterdam, expanding their hotel services with four locations and 580 additional rooms. This brings them to 19 Best Western hotels and 2,368 rooms. “We have an extraordinarily successful partnership with Best Western. We’ve expanded greatly with the brand over the last few years, and we’ve been able to position our hotels very well on the market,” explain married couple Yonca and Ihsan Yalaz in unison.

Starting in summer, 2014, a total of eleven Amedia hotels joined Best Western, the world’s largest hotel brand, under the Yalaz family’s leadership. New additions added two years ago included the five Amedia hotels in Berlin, Hamburg-Ohlsdorf, Zwickau, Passau, and Bielefeld/Werther within Germany. The five Amedia hotels in Salzburg, Graz, Wels, and the capital of Vienna were also added to Best Western, as was the Amedia Hotel in Prague, in the Czech Republic. With the Plaza Hotelgroup’s takeover of the Amedia group in April, 2014, 1,340 rooms joined Best Western. “At that time, we were already successfully operating four hotels with the Best Western brand – in Filderstadt, Ditzingen, Heilbronn und Braunschweig,” Ihsan Yalaz says. “Our decision to bring the hotels we’d acquired from the Amedia hotel group to Best Western was dead right. We’ve had an excellent experience with the brand, which has the highest level of international awareness, and provides joint marketing for individual hotels under a single roof,” Managing Director Yonca Yalaz says.

Additional expansion with four Best Western hotels
The Best Western Amedia Frankfurt Ruesselsheim joined Best Western at the beginning of February. The four-star hotel is located in Ruesselsheim, around 14 kilometers from the Frankfurt am Main International Airport. It offers 71 rooms, a hotel restaurant, and a hotel bar, as well as two seminar rooms for events with up to 40 participants. Starting in March 2016, the Plaza Hotelgroup will also be adding the former Mercure Hotel Wings Frankfurt Airport to the international brand as the new Best Western Amedia Frankfurt Airport in Raunheim. The hotel has 224 rooms, a restaurant, and a bistro. Twelve conference rooms are available for events, with a capacity of up to 130 participants. Before 1999, the Raunheim hotel was actually previously a Best Western hotel, until it was acquired by Accorhotels under lease and operated as the Mercure. Additionally, contracts have been signed for a future Best Western in Bottrop, which is slated to open in May of 2017. The hotel operations are being built into the fourth and fifth stories of a former Karstadt department store building, located directly in the center of Bottrop. The hotel will offer 140 rooms. In the Netherlands, starting in April 2016 the Best Western portfolio will be adding the Best Western Plus Amedia Amsterdam Airport with 139 rooms.

Plaza intends to grow to over 30 hotels with 4,500 rooms
“Our expansion plans aren’t over yet. We are currently in negotiations for additional hotel projects which we also want to operate under the Best Western brand,” Yalaz says. By the end of 2017, the Plaza Hotelgroup intends to grow to over 30 hotels with 4,500 rooms. Some of these projects will also be operated alongside Best Western. Among other areas, the Plaza Hotelgroup is planning hotels in Hamburg, Dresden, Linz, Rotterdam, and The Hague. “We are looking forward to continuing our positive collaboration in the future, as well, and working together to grow in attractive locations in the long term,” says Best Western CEO Smola. “As a mid-sized company, we have successfully established our family business and developed into a major hotel operator. In Best Western, we’ve found the right brand partner for us, and we look forward to growing with the company in the future,” say Yonca and Ihsan Yalaz.