Olav Thon receives WORLDHOTELS Leadership Award 2007.

The Olav Thon Group has owned hotels in Brussels since 1995. On February 2nd 2007, all Brussels-hotels in the Thon Hotel chain were re-branded as Thon Hotels. Thon Hotels is one of the largest hotel chains in the EU-capital with more than 1000 hotel rooms.
- It is an honour and a pleasure to receive this award on behalf of Mr Olav Thon, says Mr Morten Thorvaldsen, CEO of Thon Hotels. – This award confirms our strategy and proves that our hotels are of international standard.

Commenting on the Award the CEO of WORLDHOTELS, Mr Michael Ball, said: “The intent of our Annual Leadership Award is to recognize a hotelier from within the WORLDHOTELS group who has led by example and demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities within the hotel sector. With his near legendary zeal and enthusiasm for both the hotel industry and life in general, Olav Thon was an obvious choice for our 2007 Award. We have worked with Thon Hotels in Belgium for some time and in that period have been infused by their professional approach under the guidance of the dynamic corporate culture headed by Olav Thon. As WORLDHOTELS we are delighted to make this award to Mr Thon. This 2007 Award is the second such award made by WORLDHOTELS, the first being to Bernard Lambert, the President of the SBM group, at the inaugural WORLDHOTELS Leadership Forum in Monte Carlo in September 2006.”

About Thon Hotels Benelux
Thon Hotels is one of the largest hotel chains in the EU-capital with more than 1000 hotel rooms. In Brussels, Thon Hotels offers a great variety of hotels, with three-, four- and five star hotels, located at the airport, in the city centre and in the EU district. The hotels are Stanhope Hotel, Hotel Bristol Stephanie, Thon Hotel Brussels Airport and Thon Hotel Brussels City Centre. Thon Hotel Brussels City Centre is the largest hotel in Brussels with 454 rooms. Additionally, the hotel chain consists of the apartment hotels Thon Residence Parnasse and Thon Residence Florence in Brussels. Thon Hotels Benelux also includes Tulip Inn Rotterdam Hotel, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Read more at www.thonhotels.com

About WORLDHOTELS
WORLDHOTELS is a carefully selected portfolio of hotels that guarantee clearly-defined, high quality standards and service levels as well as the individual charm, local hospitality and history of independently-managed hotels.
We are devoted to the idea of meeting your accommodation needs. Your satisfaction sets the standards for all our efforts. To satisfy your needs even more specifically, you can choose between 3 distinctive categories.

With a portfolio of more than 500 hotels and resorts in more than 300 destinations and 70 countries worldwide, WORLDHOTELS is the ideal partner for every kind of trip: leisure, business, meetings, holidays, weekends and more. Welcome to WORLDHOTELS
Read more at www.worldhotels.com

For more information, please contact:
• Morten Thorvaldsen, CEO Thon Hotels, tel. +47 926 97 705
• Helge Krogsbøl, Area Director Thon Hotels Benelux tel. +32 (0)2 205 15 00
• Turid Nyeggen, Marketing Director Thon Hotels, tel. +47 982 36 931
• www.thonhotels.com