Fairmont Hotels and Resorts Chain is known for its luxurious hotels, which are now located on the world's most prestigious resorts and in major world capitals. A number of legendary hotels such as Savoy in London or Plaza in New York are now owned by Fairmont hotel chain. According to the number of hotels administered by Fairmont, the chain is among the 50 largest hotel companies in the world. Fairmont hotel chain owns 91 hotels in 15 countries as of September 2009.
The headquarters of Fairmont hotel chain is located in Toronto, Canada. Canada is a country, where the largest number of Fairmont hotels is represented. Many of the Fairmont hotels in Canada - hotels with a rich historical past. Empress Hotel in Victoria or Fairmont Le Château Frontenac in Quebec City, formerly owned by another Canadian hotel chain - Canadian Pacific Hotels are among them.
The first Fairmont hotel appeared, however, not in Canada but in the United States, in San Francisco. It wast Fairmont San Francisco, opened in 1907. In October 2009, Fairmont San Francisco hotel after a long renovation reopened its doors to tourists. Among the distinctive features of the hotel - a luxury penthouse, a night in which will cost 15 thousand dollars.
Today Fairmont hotel chain is owned by American corporation Colony Capital, which in 2006 acquired the Fairmont for 3.9 billion dollars. Today, Fairmont hotel chain is a child business unit of Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, which was formed through a merger with another hotel chain - Raffles International.
In 2009 despite the crisis, Fairmont hotel chain has not abandoned plans for expansion into the promising markets of Asia and the Middle East. In October 2009 the company announced the opening of three hotels in the Egyptian capital - Cairo, the UAE capital - Abu Dhabi and the Chinese city of Kunshan. All three new Fairmont hotels are located in the cities that were once parts of the route of the famous Silk Road.
Fairmont hotels regularly receive high ratings from the world's leading travel publications such as Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure and others. Among the latest achievements of the Fairmont hotels is the inclusion of Fairmont Orchid in Hawaii in the top 10 hotels in the world according to the vote of readers of Condé Nast Traveler.
